Plant Care Library

Group/Class:  Sweet Bell

Description:

A lovely high yielding variety that turns heads when featured in patio containers and small gardens; produces blocky bell peppers that emerge purple and mature to red; green interiors with a mild flavor, great for eating fresh, stuffing and roasting

Edible Qualities

Lilo Sweet Pepper is an annual vegetable plant that is commonly grown for its edible qualities. It produces plum purple peppers (which are technically 'berries') with light green flesh which can be harvested at any point. The fruit will often fade to red over time. The peppers have a sweet taste and a crisp texture.

The peppers are most often used in the following ways:

• Fresh Eating
• Eating When Cooked/Prepared
• Cooking
• Baking
• Freezing

Planting & Growing

Lilo Sweet Pepper will grow to be about 30 inches tall at maturity, with a spread of 18 inches. When planted in rows, individual plants should be spaced approximately 24 inches apart. Because of its vigorous growth habit, it may require staking or supplemental support. This vegetable plant is an annual, which means that it will grow for one season in your garden and then die after producing a crop.

This plant is typically grown in a designated vegetable garden. It should only be grown in full sunlight. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. Consider applying a thick mulch around the root zone over the growing season to conserve soil moisture. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Lilo Sweet Pepper is a good choice for the vegetable garden, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. With its upright habit of growth, it is best suited for use as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.