Many peppers grow well in Colorado, but a few have been developed specifically for Colorado's wild climate! Check out these specific peppers that grow well in Colorado:
Pueblo Chile
Pueblo chile is a source of pride for chile-lovers in Colorado! Farmers in Pueblo, Colorado, have been growing regionally-adapted chile peppers for decades. However, in the early 2000s Dr. Michael Bartolo, an agriculture professor at CSU, developed the Mosco chile variety which was selected from a crop of peppers grown from a bag of Pueblo Mirasol seeds (Mirsasol means looking at the sun) given to him by his father who had found them when cleaning out his late uncle's garage. The leftover bag of chile seed had belonged to his late uncle, Harry Mosco, an Italian farmer that had farmed chile the east Pueblo area for decades. These seeds were carefully selected by farmers from locally grown Mirasol chile plants over many generations.
From these seeds, Bartolo grew four rows of the Mirasol chile seeds, and one plant was unique – he selected the plant's pods which were a little big larger and thicker than the other plants' fruits, and saved the seeds and kept growing and selecting the best pods over many years to develop the Mosco chile and later the Giadone chile. The Pueblo ‘Mosco’ chile has different flavor overtones with a fruity after taste, which differs from New Mexico and Anaheim chile varieties. Mosco Pueblo chile tend to have thicker walls (which is great for roasting) and have more pungent heat.
Dr. Bartolo also developed other varieties of Pueblo chile, including the Pueblo Popper chile and the hotter Giadone chile, which he introduced at the 2018 Pueblo Chile & Frijoles Festival.
Generations have enjoyed Pueblo chile's exceptional flavor throughout the year – it is often roasted and frozen and used over the winter months.
Colorado has the ideal growing conditions for Pueblo chile:
Pueblo, Colorado's soil, high elevation, and warm days and cool nights all help give the Pueblo chile it's distinctive flavor. Mosco and Giadone Pueblo chiles grow great in Colorado, but you can also grow them wherever you can grow tomatoes and peppers. Sandia Seed offers Mosco Pueblo Chile seeds and the even spicier Giadone Pueblo chile seeds so you can grow these special Colorado peppers in your garden. They are great for Colorado's short growing season as they start to ripen for harvesting in about 75 days after planting.
If you are growing peppers in Colorado, be sure to grow any of our short season peppers which are the fastest growing peppers so they are great for our fleeting growing season which is sandwiched by late frosts and early snowstorms! :)
If growing peppers in Colorado, starting peppers indoors about 6-8 weeks before the last expected frost is ideal to get a head start on the growing season (which in Colorado, it can be in late May or early June before the snow and frosts are over depending on the year!)
Read more of our tips for growing peppers from seeds »
Learn more about the infamous and beloved Pueblo Chile in NPR's "In the NoCo" science podcast interview with Bartolo in 2024. In the interview he talks about the Pueblo Chile's history, and how he developed the 'Mosco' variety from plants started from a bag of chile seeds that were grown and selected by his late uncle and other farmers in Pueblo, Colorado.
