Cajun Belle Pepper (Garden Starter Plant)

True to its name, Cajun Belle pepper is an awesome pepper because it gives you all the flavor of a sweet pepper combined with a mild but spicy heat that adds zip to any dish. This 2010 All America winner is just plain cute, too. We love the way the little peppers ripen from lime green to orange to red. You can eat them at any stage, but the longer they stay on the plant, the warmer they get. Plants are robust and disease tolerant yet relatively small, growing about 2 feet tall by 2 feet wide. They’re ideal for small gardens or containers. Each fruit is 2 to 3 inches long, with 3 to 4 lobes to make a small, thin walled blocky miniature pepper. Allowed to remain on the plant to maturity, they turn glossy red and grow increasingly flavorful. Plants in our Alabama test garden (where the long harvest season lasts from May through October) easily yield more than 150 peppers each. Of course, yield in your garden will depend on care and the length of your warm growing season.

• Light:  Full sun
• Fruit size:  2 to 3 inches long, lobed
• Matures:  60 days
• Plant spacing:  18 to 24 inches
• Scobille heat units:  100 to 1,000 (mild)

* Photos and description courtesy of Bonnie Plants.