Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 22 JuneOne seedling barely clearing the mulch on 25 June, its first pair of leaves still held out long and strap-shaped, and above them a tight crumpled rosette of true leaves gone ragged and holed as though something has been chewing them.Week of 22 JuneA Cayenne Blend pepper on 25 June, still one unbranched stem with seven or eight leaves and nothing set on it, the stem striped lengthwise in dark purple-brown and stained at every node, the newest leaves yellowest, under flat overcast light.Week of 6 JulyCayenne Blend chilies on 6 July hanging on short thick stalks under five-pointed green caps, one odd pod pointing up out of a fork, and a July dusting of kaolin clay drying in fine white grains across pods, leaves and stems alike.Week of 6 JulyOn 9 July a forking green stem carries twenty-odd glossy leaves bitten into wavy notches all round their margins, and at node after node only a small dark shriveled remnant where a flower has dropped — nothing left to open, in hard low sun and heavy dew.Week of 13 JulyA Cayenne Blend chili on 17 July hung with five or six long pods, some straight and some hooked hard at the tip, all dimpled and creased along the flanks, and kaolin clay thick enough on some leaves to cover the blade, in dim wet overcast.Week of 13 JulyA Cayenne Blend chili on 17 July lying along its own leaves instead of hanging clear, one long pod twisting down its whole length with a single deep crease on the near side, water beaded on top of the kaolin in flat overcast light.Week of 3 AugustA Cayenne Blend chili on 3 August ripening tip-first, clear scarlet at the point, orange-red through the middle and still dull olive-brown at the shoulder, hanging in one smooth arc with the leaves above it burned out to yellow-green in brighter light.
