A cayenne pepper plant with peppers on it

Two year-old Hidden Lake Hot (Cayenne) peppers; Ugly but still producing

I planted these Cayenne peppers as seedlings in the spring of 2020. Three seasons on and they’ve survived floods, freezes, droughts, desert heat, and repeated rodent attacks from above and below ground.

Each year they get beat up in a different way and maybe a little uglier. But each year they also shrug it off and fruit like it was their first time.