Container Pepper Plants

• Hot, red peppers add color to a container garden. Jupiterimages/Photos.com/Getty Images

  Pepper plants liven up your container garden. Their shiny, green leaves bring natural beauty to a garden spot and the peppers add to meals. Peppers require plenty of sunlight to flourish, so set containerized plants in a hot spot on your patio, deck or porch. Place a large variety pepper plant in its own brightly colored pot to make a bold visual statement. Combine smaller pepper varieties with other vegetables and flowers in a large container for a pleasing contrast in color and texture.

Sweet

• Bell peppers are a classic container garden vegetable. Block-shaped with thick walls, green bell peppers are used for making fresh stuffed peppers, chopped in a salad or sliced on an hors d'oeuvre platter. For sweeter flavors, select varieties that turn red, such as bell boy, orange like Ariane or yellow, such as the golden bell as the peppers mature. Frying peppers, such as sweet banana, have longer bodies with pointed ends and range in color from buttery yellow to deep orange. Use mild-flavored frying peppers in stir-fry dishes or traditional sausage and onion mixtures. Allow ample room in a container to accommodate for sweet pepper plants' upright, bushy growth habit.

Spicy

• Chilies, cayenne and other hot peppers are favored for their pungent flavor, unusual shapes and range of colors. Use the spicy peppers freshly-picked from the plant or dry them for year-round use in spicy dishes. Use a very container with a trellis to support the Anaheim chili variety, a tall-growing plant with peppers that reach 5 to 7 inches long. Smaller varieties such as Jalapeno or Thai chili are suitable for containers 1 to 2 feet deep and blend well with flower and herb plants. Grow spicy peppers in either plastic containers or clay pots, which will need watered more frequently as the porous clay allows rapid moisture evaporation. Spicy peppers, especially the varieties that turn red, require long growing seasons and thrive in hot, dry climates.

Ornamental

• Specially bred to produce brightly-colored small peppers, ornamental cultivars are a more recent introduction to the world of container gardening. Several type of ornamentals produce red, purple, yellow and orange peppers all on the same plant. Compact in size, ornamental peppers are ideally suited for planting individually in smaller pots. Arrange several potted plants in a row along a railing or in a cluster on a patio table for dramatic visual effect. Locate the plants away from reach of children, as the peppers are extremely hot. Ornamental peppers may be grown indoors near a window where they receive ample light. Grown in greenhouses for the holiday season, an ornamental pepper plant in a container with a festive bow makes a memorable gift.