Sweet & Hot Peppers

A variety of Sweet and Hot Peppers on a white background with the text

Stop by your local SummerWinds Nursery to add home-grown sweet or heat to your favorite dishes... Peppers available seasonally, while supplies last. Please check with your local SummerWinds Nursery to confirm availability.

An illustration of a pepper with colors fading down from red to orange to yellow to green with the text: Scoville Scale and a variety of hot peppers and their ratings listed on the graphic

Pepper Varieties from Sweet to Heat!

Sweet Peppers

At SummerWinds Nursery, we offer a wide range of sweet peppers, perfect for eating cooked or raw! Below are some of the varieties we offer seasonally (when available)—listed alphabetically:

  • Baron Red Pepper – This sweet red bell pepper produces high yields of fleshy thick-walled fruits great for stuffing, roasting or eating fresh. 0 SHU (Scoville heat units).
  • Better Belle Pepper – This fast growing pepper is great for growing on a patio or deck. It is ready to harvest earlier than many other varieties and is a favorite in salads and vegetable trays. It has a thick wall and matures from green to deep orange. 0 SHU.
  • Big Early Hybrid Pepper – This giant sweet peppers is among the earliest of its size. It's very sweet, bright red and thick walled. 0 SHU.
  • Bull Nose Pepper – This medium-large bell pepper is wonderful in salads or cooked. It ripens to red and has excellent flavor. 0 SHU.
  • California Wonder Pepper – This sweet heirloom bell pepper is excellent when stuffed. It is juicy, crunchy, flavorful and has a thick wall. 0 SHU.
  • Golden Bell Pepper – These mildly sweet green or yellow bell pepper are delicious in stir-fries, salads, grilled, stuffed or roasted. 0 SHU.
  • Orange Belle Pepper – This very sweet hybrid pepper ripens to a stunning deep tangerine orange.  It has thick walls and is excellent in salads, salsas or cooked. 0 SHU.
  • Purple Bell Pepper – Similar to traditional green and red bell peppers but with a striking purple color. This sweet bell pepper is excellent in vegetable trays, sandwiches, salads and more. 0 SHU.
  • Red Beauty Pepper – This sweet bell pepper turns from green to bright red when ripe. Delicious in salads, stuffings and more. 0 SHU.
  • Red Knight Pepper – This large hybrid bell pepper is excellent in stir-fries, stuffed, roasted and grilled. Can be enjoyed from very mild when green to almost sugary when red. 0 SHU.
  • Snackabelle Red Pepper – This small sweet pepper has thick walls and can be enjoyed fresh whether green or red. Also excellent grilled or stuffed. Great for containers. 0 SHU.
  • Yolo Wonder Pepper – This thick-skinned sweet bell pepper begins yellow, turns green and matures to bright red. Excellent baked, stuffed or eaten raw in salads. 0 SHU.
Sweet Banana Peppers

Mild Peppers

Looking for a little kick or mild flavor? Below are some mild peppers, listed alphabetically:

  • Anaheim Pepper – This versatile sweet chile has a glossy, semi-thick waxy skin. When eaten raw it is slightly peppery in flavor. When cooked (depending on preparation method), it's rich, sweet and tangy flavors emerge. Ranges from 500 to 2,500 SHU. Also known as a Hatch chile, green chile and red chile.
  • Ancho & Poblano Pepper – When this chile pepper is used green, it is known as a Poblano pepper and is the preferred pepper for making chile rellenos. When it is ripened to red and dried, it is called an Ancho pepper. The pepper has a thick wall and is mildly hot with rich flavor. 1,000 to 1,500 SHU.
  • Banana Pepper – These hot mild, medium-sized chiles have a tangy taste and range from 0 to 500 SHU.
  • Jalapeño Pepper – These mild to moderate peppers are the most popular of the chile peppers. Usually picked when green, these peppers ripen into red peppers. Jalapeños have a wide variety of culinary uses and range from 2,500 to 8,000 SHU.
  • Numex Centennial Pepper – This colorful hot pepper grows upright and turns from purple, to yellow, to orange, to red when mature. Excellent in sauces, it boasts 1,000 to 5,000 SHU.
  • Pepperoncini – This mild pepper is a favorite in Italian cuisine. It is often enjoyed pickled and atop pizzas, sub sandwiches, salads and other Italian dishes. 100 to 500 SHU.
  • Jalapeno Peppers PlantSanta Fe Grande Pepper – Also known as a Guero pepper, it ripens from yellow to orange-red. Excellent cooked or fresh in salads, salsas and more. Has mild heat and slight sweetness and rates 500 to 750 SHU.
  • Sriracha Hybrid Pepper – This mildly hot dark-green chili pepper has thick walls and a flavor that is not overpowering. Excellent for slicing, roasting and pickling. 2,200 SHU.

Please check with your local SummerWinds Nursery to confirm availability.

Moderate to Hot Peppers

A variety of colorful hot peppers on a black surface

Some like it hot! From moderate to extreme heat, we have a range of peppers to choose from—when available seasonally—listed alphabetically below:

  • Chocolate Habañero Pepper – This lantern-shaped chocolate-brown pepper is flaming hot—ranking between 425,000 and 577,000 SHU.
  • El Jefe Jalapeño – This hot chipolte jalapeño pepper has a thick wall and a small cavity and matures from dark green to red. 5,000 to 30,000 SHU.
  • Fresno Pepper – More heat, more smoke and more fruitiness (when red) than the average jalapeño. 2,500 to 10,000 SHU.
  • Habañero Pepper – Most commonly grown in orange and red colors (green when unripe). Habañero peppers have a unique, citrus-like taste and is fabulous in sauces, rubs and powders. These very hot chiles range from 100,000 to 350,000 SHU.
A bunch of Hungarian Wax Peppers - close up
  • Hungarian Wax Pepper – These medium heat peppers are akin to a Jalapeño but can have more than 4x the heat. Excellent for making chiles rellenos, on salads or pickled. Ranges from 5,000 to 10,000 SHU.
  • Lemon Drop Pepper – This golden-yellow pepper has both a citrus tang and a peppery spice. Excellent in spicier salsas and hot sauces. 15,000 to 30,000 SHU.
  • Red Mushroom Pepper – This mushroom-shaped heirloom pepper ripens from green to red when mature. It is excellent when pickled or dried and ranks 30,000 to 50,000 SHU.
  • Scotch Bonnet – Popular in Caribbean cuisine, this pepper has heat and a fruity tang. Distinguished from the habañero for it's overall sweetness and slight tang. 100,000 to 350,000 SHU.
  • Serrano Pepper – This small hot chili pepper is about three times as hot as a jalapeno. Can be harvested green or red, brown, orange or yellow (when ripe). Typically enjoyed raw for their bright, biting flavor. Excellent in pico de gallo and salsa. 10,000 to 23,000 SHU.

Selection varies seasonally by location; available while supplies last. Please check with your local SummerWinds Nursery to confirm availability.

Rows of pepper seed packets from Sandia Seeds CompanyLooking for Pepper Seeds?

We have those too! Stop into your local SummerWinds to explore our pepper seeds from Sandia Seed Company. We've got varieties from sweet to heat!  Click the button below, to learn more.

Pepper Seeds
A bowl of various fruits that are often thought of as vegetables - sitting in the grass

Did You Know? These Are Actually Fruits!

Fruits are defined as the reproductive part of a plant that contains the seeds. Avocados, cucumbers, eggplants, green beans, okra, olives, peppers, pumpkins, squashes, and tomatoes are all technically fruits!

Prep your soil to enjoy the tastiest fruits!

The soil you grow your plants in makes all the difference. For tasty, plump fruits, we recommend using a soil such as Strawberry Fields® Potting Soil by FoxFarm. Click on the button below to learn more about the soils, amendments and fertilizers we recommend for superior plant growth and health.

Soils & More