In the Garden Now: The Other Lantern

Chinese Lantern

Text and photos by Victoria Gilleland

Chinese Lantern, Ground Cherry

Mother Nature hit the Autumn Jackpot with this creation: pumpkin orange flowers in the shape of lanterns! Chinese Lanterns usually precede and always compliment that other garden lantern, Jack-o’-Lantern, splendidly! And what could better enhance the rich earthy color scheme that is fall?

These orange lanterns are not what you expect to find in a typical NW perennial flower bed. They look a lot like tomatillos to whom they are related.  The papery covering or calyxes start out green as they form in late summer over an orange fruit that develops from a small white flower. If left on the plant through winter the orange flower pods will skeletonize to form a lacy winter decoration.  

  

This unusual fall bloomer grows to about two feet high and tends to tilt especially if grown in a shadier garden. It needs some kind of support unless there are garden plants nearby that it can lean against. This is not a compact grower in any sense of the word so if you’re a tidy gardener and crave order in the garden this probably isn’t the plant for you. Cut flower stems dry beautifully with lanterns maintaining their intense orange color for months. 

Chinese Lantern Plant Skeletonizing Physalis alkek 

If the plant is “too happy” it can become invasive. For 20 years I grew it in a dry, part sun border near the street that got minimal attention. I have never had a problem with it spreading. An occasional rhizome would head out horizontally and pop up in an adjacent bed, but it was easily removed from my sandy loam. Grown under ideal conditions there could well be a problem.

Salute the autumn season! Add a sprinkling of orange to your garden with a clump or two of Chinese Lantern Plant contained in a pot or in a garden bed. If you don’t have room in the garden for your own plant you may find these fall favorites as cut flowers at farmer’s markets, florists or craft stores.  

Note:  Unripe berries and leaves of the Chinese lantern plant are poisonous if eaten, so plant away from children and pet play areas. Explain to your children when they can understand that the Chinese lantern plant is to look at not to eat.

If you would like more information about plant toxicity check out the Washington Poison Center website or call the office at 1-800-222-1222.

(Botanical Name:  Physalis alkekengi ) 

Victoria Gilleland is the owner of Cottage Garden Designs, a Garden Design company specializing in Redesign of Residential Gardens, Garden Consultation and Coaching. She has been designing gardens in the northwest for over 20 years.