Page 11 - Griffin Gazette Spring 2017
P. 11
By Jeanne Svob, Seed Business May, you can finish colorful pots of peppers Chilly Chili ornamental
Manager for late August to September sales. pepper. Photo courtesy
of PanAmerican Seed.
Colorful ornamental peppers are pretty as Inspire impulse sales with peppers in
a picture, with their multicolored fruits and decorative pots; they can move from the award winner) and Medusa are the perfect
attractive foliage. Ornamental peppers add patio table to the kitchen windowsill before accent to orange, yellow and red mums
a bounty of color and interesting textures to the first frost. Depending upon the chemical and pansies. Add small pumpkin or gourd
containers and landscape beds, yet they’re regimen used in production, all ornamental “props” to your containers to create a
often underutilized. How can we effectively peppers are edible though they’re not complete fall display. As an added bonus,
incorporate them into our bedding and considered culinary. Fruits can be very hot! both Chilly Chili and Medusa have non-
container sales? pungent fruit, so they’re safer choices to
The colorful fruits are perfectly suited to fall use around curious small children and pets.
Spice Up Spring Programs combinations. Combination planters are We should mention that ornamental
Varieties like Black Pearl, Calico and Purple the ideal way for home garden decorators peppers aren’t frost tolerant but they
Flash can be sold on the merits of their to transition their summer gardens into a fall will persist long enough to provide an
attractive foliage alone. They’ll be saleable in color palette. The bright and varied colors abundance of color through the warmer
4½" pots for summer bedding or container of ornamental pepper fruits can pull all the days of fall. They fulfill their purpose early,
transplants in just 14-16 weeks from colors of your combos together. and are often overgrown by the mums,
sowing. Plants will flourish in the garden asters, kales, grasses and pansies sharing
through the summer heat, adding striking Consider Black Pearl in combination with their space before the first frost hits.
fruit colors in June and July. Black Pearl rose ornamental kale, blue asters and Pepper Your Assortment
can be the perfect focal point in a summer lavender, rose, or light blue pansies. It’s While we’ve mentioned only a few by name,
container mixed with lavender, rose, pink worth noting that Black Pearl is also an there are many more ornamental pepper
or even red flowers. Slightly shorter, Calico All-America Selections award winner, so varieties on the market, with characteristics
and Purple Flash make fantastic mid-height you can count on it to perform dependably to meet many needs, preferences and color
border plants in upscale bed designs for the end user. palettes. They range in size from 4" x 6" up to
and as accent plants in color bowls and 14" x 16". Foliage colors can be variegated,
window boxes. Purple Flash or Calico blends beautifully glossy green or deep purple. Fruit colors
with white kale, osteospurmum and pink include orange, yellow, red, purple or all of
Fiery Fall Sales or purple mums. Add some white, blue or the above. Your Griffin sales representative
If your spring market is crowded with purple pansies for more color and texture. can help you identify the right varieties and
an abundance of flowering annuals and product forms to fit your program.
perennials, it may be difficult for pretty The bolder yellow, orange and red fruits of
peppers to compete for the attention of Chilly Chili (another All-America Selections
spring shoppers. That’s OK, because
ornamental peppers are awesome in fall
programs, too!
Ornamental peppers flourish in heat and
high light, so they’re an ideal crop to put into
production as your spring plants are moving
out the door. Total crop time from sowing to
mature fruit in summer production is 15-20
weeks. Starting with seed in April or plugs in
The colorful fruits are
perfectly suited to fall
combinations. The bright
and varied colors of
ornamental pepper fruits
can pull all the colors of
your combos together.
Griffin Gazette Spring 2017 | 11
