Some like it hot - by Senior Lecturer Simon Hart

Simon Hart, Senior Lecturer in the School of Sustainable Environments, discusses the ornamental value of the Chilli pepper.

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Fresh chilli peppers (or chile if you prefer) are far more available than they have ever been as they are now being grown on a commercial scale in the UK.

Chilli peppers belong to the genus Capsicum, most falling into the species C. annuum, though some of the hotter types (eg. the scotch bonnets) are a different species,  C.chinensis.  Greenhouse trials carried out at Writtle College on behalf of Tozer seeds during summer 2013 featured over sixty different varieties, and this is by no means an exhaustive collection.

Growers have found that chillis do very well as a summer crop in greenhouses or polythene tunnels, they  give a reliable yield (the flowers are self pollinating) and providing  aphids are kept under control aren’t too troublesome in the way of maintenance.

Although famous for their variability in heat content, which goes from mildly warming to lethally hot, chill peppers also vary widely in size, shape and colour. As UK production becomes more widespread and availability increases more of the interesting colours and shapes are finding their way onto the market as fresh produce.

The ornamental value of fresh chilli peppers has been explored recently by BA Floristry students at Writtle College, who have been designing a range of chilli pepper based arrangements such as the example below.

The peppers themselves have been proving surprisingly versatile due to the wide variety of shapes, sizes and colours available.

Fruits are generally glossy, work well with similarly glossy foliage as background, but also bring an exciting variety of colour, shape and form to the design.

Below are a few of the different types the students have found work well in arrangements:

Scotch Bonnet type peppers are usually available in red, yellow and orange shades when ripe, though more unusually a deep glossy chocolate brown. Chefs use gloves when preparing these peppers as they are lethally hot, so take care when handling

Left - an unusual chocolate brown Scotch bonnet or Habanero type

  

Yellow fruited Cayenne type (right)

The red Cayenne peppers are fairly common, but the yellow fruited less so, this variety is small enough to grow as a pot plant and produces the peppers in clusters

Another Habanero type– the variety Hot Paper Lantern (left)

Hot like the scotch bonnets, but a more elongated fruit shape.  This variety looks quite dramatic if used as a length of stem with attached fruit.

Known for its high yield, the fruits are closer spaced along the stem than many other types. 

The unusual Cambuli (right) – highly decorative colour and shape, also note the particularly long stem on each fruit.

‘Vampire’ (left) – a chill bred in the UK by Tozers;  purple stems and foliage, purple fruit ripening to red, also unusual purple flowers.

Writtle Wildlife Watch (December 2013)

Writtle conservation expert, Alan Roscoe, has once again been observing the wildlife on campus at Writtle. Here, Alan reviews his December findings.

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"I am sure you have seen the recent pictures from around the country of the devastation caused by high winds, surge tides and heavy rain. Our human infrastructure can seem very frail when confronted with these challenges.

But have you ever thought about the impact on wildlife – and do you always assume it will be bad…?

One of the things which has been lacking in the British countryside in recent decades is dead wood – a great habitat for numerous species, especially beetles. But because we are such a tidy nation, we have been obsessed with clearing up any tree which falls over in high wind. Consequently there has not been much dead wood around, until recently, that is. But now we have plenty of it!

Stag Beetle pit creation. Copyright Tina Carter.

One of the insects which needs dead wood is the Stag Beetle. This wonderful creature is found in parts of Essex and to help it out, some of students this year used buried dead wood to create ‘Stag Beetle Pits’ on the Writtle College estate.

I see there is more rough weather to come but, as far as nature is concerned, it might not all be bad news."