Something not mentioned so far is to consider the heritage of the class of pepper you want to grow. By heritage I mean where did a type of pepper develop -- coastal islands or mountain foothills. It will make a big difference in how they grow and what conditions they do best in.
Most varieties in the Habanero family came from the Caribbean islands and the Yucatan where it's warm most of the time and very little day to nite temp difference. They will do best in your hotter areas.
Varieties like the Anchos came from the mountain foothills. They gennerally don't tolerate high temps as well. They also like cool nites or rather a nice temp difference between day and nite. If you have a hot summer with high humidity where the temps hardly drop at nite you will get lush plants but few fruit till the temp moderates in fall. By then there is not enough time for them to mature. They might do better if you can plant them in partial shade, especially afternoon shade.
Just some info gleaned from about 20 years of growing over 100 varieties of various hot chiles in Wisconsin.
Carol
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