Pepper ‘Mad Hatter’
* Common name: Pepper ‘Mad Hatter’
Credit: All-America Selections
* Botanical name: Capsicum baccatum ‘Mad Hatter’
* What it is: You might not even recognize that this is a pepper plant because the fruits are flattened with lobes, more like little red hats than the bell or cone shapes that peppers usually grow into.
‘Mad Hatter’ not only produces odd fruits, it’s a prolific producer, putting out 40 to 50 fruits per plant. They’re sweet peppers that ripen from green to red and sometimes develop a bit of heat around the seeds.
The variety won a 2017 All-America Selections award for its nationwide performance in trial gardens.
* Size: Taller than most pepper plants at 3 to 4 feet high. Space 18 to 24 inches apart in the garden and figure on staking them, especially when the weight of the fruits pull the stems down.
* Where to use: Sunny vegetable gardens. However, the fruits are colorful and curious enough to work in a sunny flower bed (i.e. it’s a good “edible landscape” choice) or in a children’s garden.
* Care: Water deeply once or twice a week if it doesn’t rain. Work compost and a granular, balanced organic fertilizer into the soil at planting, then scratch in a booster dose when the plants flower.
* Great partner: Swiss chard and/or purple basil are colorful and edible neighbors.