Gardening Edible Gardening Vegetable Gardening Hot Pepper Just a little bit of these fiery fruits will kick your homemade salsa up a notch. By Viveka Neveln Viveka Neveln Instagram Viveka Neveln is the Garden Editor at BHG and a degreed horticulturist with broad gardening expertise earned over 3+ decades of practice and study. She has more than 20 years of experience writing and editing for both print and digital media. Learn about BHG's Editorial Process Updated on June 10, 2020 Share Tweet Pin Email Growing Hot Peppers Grown in vegetable gardens for generations, hot peppers are now becoming popular as ornamentals, too. Ranging in size from dwarf to full-size shrubs, peppers are suitable for patio pots, hanging baskets, and ornamental beds and borders. While the flowers tend to be understated, the pepper fruits themselves are colorful and often have playful shapes and textures. Some varieties also have darkly colored or variegated leaves. Hot Peppers Care Must-Knows Hot peppers grow best in summer heat. Although these plants are perennial in Mexico and parts of South and Central America where they originate, hot peppers are usually grown as summer annuals in the United States. They are sensitive to low temperatures, so if you live in an area with cold spring weather, start hot pepper seeds indoors about eight weeks before the last expected frost in your area and transfer outdoors when soil temperatures reach 65 degrees F. 9 Easy and Fast-Growing Vegetables You Can Harvest in (Almost) No Time Potted hot peppers can be overwintered inside if cut back and kept in a well-lit area. When working with hot peppers, always remember to wear gloves because the oil that gives the fruit its heat transfers easily to your hands. New Innovations Capsaicin gives hot peppers their fieriness. A scoring system called Scoville Heat Units (SHU) gives you a sense of how hot a pepper is when consumed. The lower the score, the less painful you'll find the heat. Scores above 500,000 are extremely hot. The bhut jolokia (ghost pepper), a hybrid from India, was the first pepper to score over a million SHU. Harvest Tips for the Freshest Vegetables Breeders have since developed the Naga Viper at 1,349.000 SHU, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion at 2,009,231 SHU, and the Carolina Reaper coming in at 2,200,000 SHU. Pure capsaicin receives a score of 16 million SHU. More Varieties of Hot Peppers Hot Peppers Overview Description Hot pepper plants belong to a diverse group of edible annuals that offers a variety of colors, shapes, and flavors. Their flowers can be white, yellow, or purple with a star- or bell-shape. After the blooms, edible peppers form in eye-catching shades of red, yellow, purple, orange, and brown in an entertaining array of shapes and sizes. The oval- or lance-shape foliage tends to be green but can, in some rare plants, be purple or have streaks or splashes of white. Genus Name Capsicum annuum Common Name Hot Peppers Plant Type Vegetable Light Sun Height 6 to 12 inches Width 18 to 36 inches Flower Color Purple, White, Yellow Foliage Color Blue/Green, Purple/Burgundy Season Features Reblooming, Summer Bloom Special Features Good for Containers, Low Maintenance Propagation Seed 'Ancho 211' pepper Jason Donnelly Capsicum annuum 'Ancho 211' bears mildly hot heart-shape fruits that are good for stuffing, making chiles rellenos, or drying. 90 days 'Holy Mole' pepper Marty Baldwin This cultivar is a mildly hot pasilla-type pepper that was developed especially for mole sauce, but it can be used in other hot-pepper dishes as well. Green fruits mature to chocolate brown. 85 days 'Pretty in Purple' pepper Dean Schoeppner Capsicum annuum 'Pretty in Purple' bears attractive purple fruits, stems, and leaves. It's a great ornamental plant as well as edible hot pepper. Fruits turn red at maturity. 85 days 'Tabasco' pepper Peter Krumhardt This variety is used to make the sauce with the same name. It is best adapted to the Southeast. 120 days 'Thai Hot' pepper Marty Baldwin Capsicum annuum 'Thai Hot' features pencil-thin fruits that are borne above the foliage, making an attractive display as the fruits change from creamy yellow to orange and then to red at maturity. The extremely hot fruits are used in Thai cooking. 42 days Was this page helpful? Thanks for your feedback! Tell us why! Other Submit