This was on sale at my local Kroger. I have never seen a plant like this! It's really lovely looking, but there's no tag, no indication of what it is. It's already potted up with some other plants, and so the price of the ensemble is more than I want to pay, but I'm hoping someone can identify the plant for me so that I can go buy it as a single item somewhere for less money. I'd really like to plant it! I should note that the color is kinda off in the photos. It's less black and more deep purple.
Oh, I've seen those before and they are beautiful! Sorry I can't help with a name though If your area is anything like mine, after you fall in love with them you can look and look and look and never find them again
I think it's an ornamental pepper plant, the little berry looking things are the peppers. I don't know if it is edible. https://pixabay.com/en/plant-purple-leaves-berries-17982/
Might or might not be edible, but when sold as annual, could have been treated with systemic pesticides. Ornamental pepper plant. (Capsicum annuum.) There's a TON of very similar cultivars. Not hard to find seeds or already growing plants, usually in the spring. https://myfolia.com/retailers/854-park-seed/catalogue_items/74833-ornamental-pepper-explosive-ember
Thank you all. I LOVE the plant and appreciate all the information. One thing that really confuses me though.... This variety is an Vegetable that typically grows as an Annual, which is defined as a plant that matures and completes its lifecycle over the course of a single year. Explosive Ember normally grows to a max height of 1.49 feet (45.72 cm metric). This variety tends to bloom in mid summer. It's confusing to me though that A. It's an Annual and B. the planting schedule indicated for my zone is Spring/Summer. So WHY on earth is it being sold NOW????
Because it will bring in money. Because the person at the corporate office who chooses the plants to be sent to all the stores thinks they are pretty. And the majority of the shoppers who buy the plant are going to put it on their front porch for decoration and expect it to die when the temperatures drop in Winter then they will toss it in the trash, and in the Spring they will buy new Spring flowers that will die in the Summer heat. They are not gardeners, they are decorating their home. My Mom was one of them, I don't know how many plants she threw away with the change of each season but she was happy to have them for decoration and couldn't have cared less what they were called or what their normal life cycle was and I would be willing to guess that the majority of the people who buy plants at the grocery store couldn't care less what the plant is....it's pretty. How long it lives...it's replaceable. The same plant being sold at a garden center will be passed over by some gardeners who do not have anywhere to over-winter it and will be wondering the same as you. Some will make it a houseplant and if they are lucky they will still have in next Spring and and put it outside.
