Darrell Blackwelder: Jerusalem cherry provides a pop of color

1/2 Jerusalem cherry

With most of the leaves and summer annuals, fall color is all but gone, however there is one plant with a vast display of small, colorful fruit. It has a strange resemblance to a cherry tomato; however, it is not a tomato but a Jerusalem cherry or Christmas cherry ( Solanum pseudocapsicum) . The bright red-orange fruit is about the size of a quarter providing colorful fall and winter interest to our increasingly dull landscape. Jerusalem cherry plants were popular many years ago as house plants during the holiday season. These are now almost impossible to find in local garden shops. The foliage is rather dense and remains dark green, forming a mound loaded with colorful orange fruit. The ornamental pepper is a member of the nightshade (Solonaceae) family which inc