Photographs of this planting through the 2026 season, oldest first.
The photographs
Week of 15 JuneA newly set-out seedling on 19 June, alone in a wide expanse of raked bare bed, one slim downy stem already breaking short side shoots at every lower axil, its narrow glossy leaves drooping below and standing up around the tip, in flat bright daylight.Week of 20 JulyGong Bao peppers on 21 July, their white corollas hanging with all five narrow lobes swept back and down and small wrinkled green fruits already set at the nodes, the block running away waist-high behind them to a wall of woodland under bright overcast.Week of 27 JulyGong Bao chilies on 28 July, one pod standing stiffly upright and pale while the longer darker one beside it hangs off a pedicel arched into a full hook, small white flowers strung along the branches, shot from down among the stems in low raking sun.Week of 27 JulyA Gong Bao chili on 30 July curved into a shallow sickle, glossy dark green with a highlight down one flank, and hanging beside it the same pod blackened and shrunk dry, with nasturtium leaves creeping across the bed floor in hard sun.Week of 3 AugustGong Bao chilies on 5 August, six or seven hanging straight down off nodes stained dark purple, their skins rippled and undulating along the length rather than smooth and each tapering to a fine curled point, with dry pasture flat behind them.Week of 17 AugustGong Bao chilies on 19 August, twenty hanging straight down like green cords, every one kinked or waved rather than straight and none yet turning, with white flowers still open among them and low evening sun breaking through the trunks behind.Week of 31 AugustA Gong Bao plant on 31 August hung with two dozen pods at once, all still deep glossy green, most falling straight down but several curling and kinking back on themselves, the longest of them nearly as tall as the stake alongside.Week of 31 AugustA Gong Bao chili on 2 September, gone scarlet and hanging straight point-down from a thick pale woody stem, its skin rippled the whole way along, with two thinner dark green ones still unripe behind it over dry mown grass.Week of 31 AugustGong Bao chilies hanging straight down through the canopy on 3 September, fifteen or more and every one still green — several kinked or S-curved, one at the top curled into a closed ring — with low sun raking in from the right down the length of each pod.Week of 21 SeptemberGong Bao (Kung Pao) peppers on 21 September, one glossy scarlet pod curving in a shallow S to a fine whip-like point, its stem hooked sharply back, a green blush still on one flank. Soft warm indoor light on white woven cloth.
