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Texas summers can be hotter than a pistol, and gardeners are always looking for plants that can take the heat.

How about some ornamental plants that not only take the heat, but also give it back? I’m talking about ornamental peppers.

Recently, breeders have been developing great pepper plant varieties for the flower garden. Ornamental peppers are very decorative, typically small in stature, and get loaded with small to medium sized, bright and colorful fruit.

They are usually quite hot, so the attractive peppers stay on the plant to be admired in the garden rather than gathered for picante. Some other features breeders have been incorporating into ornamental peppers are multicolored fruit and foliage color other than green (variegated, black, and purple).

Ornamental peppers grow and perform well all summer if given nominal care, so they are a great option for a massing of bedding plants for that sunny spot in your yard. One variety that received rave reviews both nationally and locally is called “Black Pearl.’’

It was a 2006 All-America Selections Flower Winner, and also selected for the North Texas Winners Circle. This pepper plant has very attractive, dark purple, almost black, leaves. The plant continues to grow and fruit throughout the summer and fall, which makes it a nice, rounded, compact plant for the front or middle of the flower bed. The peppers are round, shiny black balls produced in clusters, which eventually turn red as they mature. As the plant grows through the summer, it continues to produce new fruit, resulting in an attractive mix of black and red fruit, backed by the dark foliage.

Because the overall appearance of “Black Pearl’’ is so dark, it looks great when placed in front of lighter colored foliage or flowers.

Petunia “Tidal Wave Silver,’’ a bullet-proof spreading petunia for summer long flower power, would be a great background foil for a grouping of ‘Black Pearl’. Chartreuse is another foliage color that compliments dark foliage. Master Gardeners last year placed “Black Pearl’’ in front of a group of chartreuse leaved coleus for a dynamite combination in the IDEA Garden that had lots of people taking notes and pictures. For a great contrast, grow it combination with white or yellow flowering bedding plants. “Black Pearl’’ also makes a nice container plant, as do all the other ornamental peppers on the market. Some of the other notable peppers recently getting recognition in trials in Northeast Texas include “Chilly Chili’’ (2002 All-America Selection with clusters of long, upright, bright red, orange and yellow fruit), “Explosive Embers’’ (purple leaves, flowers and red and purple fruit), “NuMex Centennial’’ and “Poinsettia.’’

There are many new varieties coming out all the time, and if you cannot find any of these named varieties, try any of the ones you can find in the nursery for a different kind of bedding plant this summer.

Like all peppers, ornamental peppers require a sunny location with well-drained, fertile soil to show their best. Prepare the soil with compost and mix in a slow release fertilizer before planting.

Space peppers 12 to 24 inches apart, and plant them no deeper than the soil in the container – do not bury the stems. Mulch the soil to control weeds and maintain moisture, and every 3 or 4 weeks apply fertilizer to keep the plants vigorously growing and performing in your garden.

Keith Hansen is Smith County Horticulturist with Texas AgriLife Extension Service. His Web page is http://EastTexasGarden-ing.tamu.edu. His blog is http://tce-blogs.tamu.edu/mt/etg Texas AgriLife Extension Service educational programs are open to all individuals without regard to race, color, sex, disability, religion, age or national origin.