Those do look nice! I'm south of the Catskills, and also find that certain varieties do well when started early, while others are big bummers. My best pepper for 2017 is a Turkish hot red pepper called Balik (translates as "Fish"; my seeds came from Mehmet at Two Seeds in a Pod -
http://twoseedsinapod.com/product/balik/). I started seeds around Feb. 20. When the plants went out in containers around May 20, they were quite large (18" or so) and already blossoming, but I had my first ripe pepper on July 4. They are still bearing, and the peppers are beautiful. Balik seemed not to mind this year's cool weather as much as habaneros, poblanos, etc. I'll definitely grow it again. Leutschauer paprika and Shish!to also did fairly well, and early jalapeno did better than other jalapenos...