A few years ago I bought a ground cherry seedling for the first time, and it grew upright. The kids loved it, and I've been planting one or two a year ever since. But since that first year, all the plants I've gotten have been spreading plants. This year I'm growing my own seedlings-Aunt Molly's ground cherry- and I'm afraid it will be spreading as well. Anyone know where I can find an upright ground cherry?

Aunt Molly’s is an upright. But the stems are not strong and can easily fall over so I place 12” BBQ bamboo sticks next to each stem and use the green garden Velcro to tie the stick to the stem. I grow them every year. Last year I finally got enough plants to harvest a large enough number of “cherries” to make a pie. What a treat! Biggest pest for me are the cucumber beetles. The larva can wipe out a crop if you don’t pay attention. They are fun and delicious.

I’ve got Aunt Molly’s and a generic ground cherry from Baker Creek that has the number GR101 on it. That one is sprawling, and Aunt Molly’s is upright, just as mentioned above.

My Aunt Molly's (from Baker Creek), and all the ground cherries I've tried, seem to spread uniformly with bracket-like branches in every cardinal direction at once, if they're volunteers. If they're not volunteers, they seem to be small and bushy instead. I don't know that I've ever seen one I could truly call upright; maybe the ones I had in buckets outside were, but I don't know. I'd love to see a picture of the upright ones.

Before the transplant mine look upright, though. Mine tend to be a lot healthier and more vigorous if they grow as volunteers than if I transplant them.