The best producing peppers for me are Ace and New Ace, hybrids. They will flower and set fruit that will ripen at least some to red every year for me. They are less fussy about conditions for setting fruit than most peppers and have a shorter ripening sequence than almost any other bell peppers, both of interest to me since I live just north of Concord, NH. I have tried a variety of other peppers over the years, but these similar peppers have been the most successful for me. Most others produce maybe three peppers, so really aren't worth the space in the garden. Ace//New Ace are smaller than many peppers (fist sized or somewhat larger,) but have good flavor and medium wall thickness. Sorry to not have any non-hybrid recommendations.

If you have any interest in a quite mildly hot banana pepper, not hybrid, Hungarian hot wax has produced oodles of peppers for me, many of which are able to ripen (red-orange.)

Hopefully someone will have some recommendations of other peppers for you. I will recommend Johnny's Selected Seeds as a source of seed if you want to grow your own plants. They have both hybrid and open pollinated or heirloom varieties and have plants chosen to do well in New England.

Here's a link to an earlier thread about peppers with a few other varieties and resources listed.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pepper thread

Thank you for the information; I appreciate it. The 'colored' ones I've been growing~King of the North & Golden Calwonder~always produce well but don't usually have time to turn red/yellow even though they're started early in the greenhouse. I'll check out your link~thanks again.

You're going to hate me for this, BUT, if you'd like more information about
various pepper varieties - especially "early season" peppers for your Zone 5
location - check out the link below. They have 500 varieties listed (that's
NOT a misprint!), all available in the Spring as seedlings. . .and while you might not want the added expense of ordering seedlings, sites like this can provide a wealth of free info. I have been using these folks for years, and actually make a special day-trip every April to pick up my tomatoes and peppers! They also introduced me to the best fertilizer I have EVER used on my veggies: liquid fish emulsion. . .

Here's a tip I learned, just in case you DO decide to order plants from this
source: order EARLY, like now. . .in March, when you might start thinking about peppers for your Spring planting, they'll be sold out.

Carl

Here is a link that might be useful: Cross Country Nurseries

Carl,
BUY a vegetable plant? Bite your tongue! I DID visit the site and you're right, there's alot to learn there and Ill check it out as time allows. Thanks so much for the link.
I completely agree with you on the fish fertilizer~it's the best. (We buy it locally in 5 gallon buckets.)
Thanks again!
Janine