I'm not sure what you mean by "exotic." There are five species of domesticated capsicums, and, with the possible exception of C. pubescens, you should be able to grow any of them with little trouble in the Chicago area. The pubescens might require special handling.
Many peppers can be slow to germinate, taking as much as 28 days. But, in general, you want to start them, indoors, 8 to 10 weeks before last frost in your area. They also benefit from bottom heat until they germinate. Most of them, particularly the C. annuums (which are the most common), should germinate in 7-10 days.
Once transplanted, consistent watering is one of the keys to success. Peppers suffer from a feast-or-famine watering schedule, so should be watered on a regular basis.
Sometimes, peppers will go into a sort of dormancy during the height of the summer. The don't die, but they don't grow, either. Then, in late August, with cooling night temperatures, they suddenly take off again. This tends to be more of a problem with sweet peppers, though, like the various bells.
BTW, peppers are a perenial that we usually grow as an annual. You can take them indoors and grow them under lights through the winter, if you desire. I have a friend who's maintained one plant for more than six years that way.
Chocolate Hab is a hybrid, so I can't help you with that, as I don't grow hybrids. But I can't see that culturing it would be any different than an open pollinated variety.
Indian PC-1 was much touted by the folks at Redwood City Seeds as "the hottest pepper in the world." But they use their own scale, not recognized by anyone else, and not nearly as discriminating as the Scoville. I grew it once, and, frankly, was underwhelmed. It just doesn't live up to its hype.
"....the pepper grows from the flower, is that true?"
That's true about all fruits and vegetables. The flower is actually the plant's ovary. Once pollinated, the fruit develops from it. Peppers, indeed, all the solanceae, have perfect flowers. This means each flower contains both male and female reproductive organs, and the flowers are self-pollinating. Because of that, it's relatively easy to maintain seed purity even when you can't separate varieties by distance.  |