Q: What is this growing in my planter of dahlias? - Edye Nye, North Ferrisburgh, Vt. A: What an interesting plant and flower. It's Nicandra physalodes, known simply as Nicandra or apple-of-Peru. It's ...

Sometimes you just luck out and stumble onto a plant that turns out to be a winner. That’s what happened when I purchased a seedling shoo-fly plant (Nicandra physalodes) at a rare-plant nursery a few ...

Once a popular ornamental in gardens, the "shoo-fly plant" (Nicandra) has become modestly naturalized in some places. Dear Helen: Can you tell me what this blue flower is? It has self-sown in my ...

Description: In terms of species, Nicandra physalodes is an only child, though it is part of the very successful solanaceae family that includes such edible plants as eggplant, tomato and potato.

A reader was told by a friend that the tomatillo plant repels flies, and wonders if that's true. While the sharp-sweet fruits of the tomatillo (Physalis ixocarpa) are essential to Mexican cuisine, ...