Pepper Plants

Peppers can be found in many sizes, shapes, colors and intensities of heat, from sweet to intensely hot. The plants are easy to grow, but are cold sensitive.

Do not plant them until evening temperatures remain above 60 degrees. Plant them in full sun and be ready for the bountiful harvest these varieties produce.

Sweet Pepper Plants

There are many varieties of Sweet Bell Peppers. They are crunchy sweet to eat raw, and can be added to salads, roasted and stuffed or grilled. Most turn from green to red as the season progresses.

Golden California Wonder produces 4+ inch yellow peppers; Bell Boy Hybrid is 4+ inches, ripens green and turns red; Hybrid Big Berta is a meaty variety that grows up to seven inches long and four inches wide, weighing over one pound.

Non-bell sweet peppers include many varieties that are perfect in salsas, salads and for stuffing. Banana peppers are six inches long and yellow, turning scarlet when ripe.

Chocobelle is a round, baby bell in a rich, chocolaty color. It is a bite-sized pepper that's great to stuff as an hors d'oeuvre. It is thin-skinned and doesn't keep well.

Cubanelles are six inches long and are also good for pickling. Lipstick Sweet Peppers are among the sweetest, whether picked green or red. They produce four-inch oblong peppers that are great in pastas, salsas and fresh.

Hot Pepper Plants

Hot peppers come in a variety of intensities of heat from mildly hot to fiery. Jalapenos are a popular variety, growing three to four-inch long peppers. They are great in salsas, for baking or stuffed.

Habanero peppers are 1000 times hotter than Jalapenos, and are favorites in Tex-Mex and Caribbean cooking and salsas. They also dry well and can be frozen.

Cayenne peppers are seven inches long with mild to medium heat, popular for drying, pickling or salsas. Anaheims are mildly hot, grow six to eight inches long and turn dark green to red as they ripen.

Thai peppers are a one-inch, cone-shaped, extremely hot variety that can be eaten red or green. They are also dried for use as a condiment.

Hungarian wax peppers are about six inches long and yellow when ripe, but can grow much larger, turning red as they mature. They are moderately hot and are popular dried or pickled, and in marinades and dressings.

Pepper plants are attractive and easy to grow, adding color and taste appeal to the home vegetable garden. Many varieties also grow well in containers, making them a popular patio plant.

With the variety of flavors available, several are bound to become favorites in the garden and the kitchen.

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