Frankly, I'm not sure you'll get a crop before winter. So, grow the ones with the shortest seed-to-harvest time, which is probably snow peas.

Hardiness zones mean nothing during the growing season. Someone in zone 7 could be in New York, Arkansas, Colorado, Oregon, or elsewhere.... All have very different growing conditions and have different frost dates.

Depending on where you are there may not be time left for a crop. Plants mature slower in the fall than they do in spring and summer. And while peas are frost hardy and will live through some frosts, that doesn't mean they will produce.

Find your last frost date to see if it is possible to get a crop, and if it is then choose the variety with the shortest days to maturity. Containers have limited space so to get the highest yield I'd go with a snap pea so you can eat the pods along with the peas. Shelling peas waste a lot (fibrous pods) and snow peas have no substance.

Rodney

More to the point, Z7 will see winter temperatures at 5-10F. Peas simply can't survive those temperatures, though they can weasel by at 20F, maybe. Roots will freeze in planters, in any case. In comfortable temperatures, you might get harvest in 60 days, but in colder temps it will take lots more. That lands you in the middle of winter. Peas can certainly be grown as a fall crop in warmer climates, though.

Peas can be planted for fall even in colder locations. It's all in the timing. For those in the northern U.S. "fall planting" is a but of a misnomer. It should be "fall harvest" because that is what we are actually doing in fall: harvesting. To do that most of our fall crops need planted in mid to late summer. As in mid July for some things, early to mid August for others.

And again, just because a zone 7 typically gets down to 5-10*F that doesn't mean it happens at the same time in every location nor does it happen for the same duration. In some areas it might hit 10*F in early December and be cold for a couple months, for other areas it might be 10*F in late January and last a week. For growing vegetables a person's specific location is important, not their zone (except when talking about perennial vegetables, but that's a different conversation).

Rodney

The point is that for winter gardening, the zone gives you a likely minimum temperature. You may luck out, and not see that temperature until after harvest, but you might not. It's true that for summer gardening, the USDA zone says NOTHING. It's all about winter survival. I gardened in Oregon, which was zone 8, and now in Central Texas, which is also zone 8. The summer gardening conditions in the two places are hugely hugely different. But yes, it is true that many people seem to think that the USDA zones are some measure of gardening climate in the usual growing season. You can grow peas in USDA zone 3, but not in the winter!

As noted, plant roots have little ability to acclimate or develop cold tolerance. So plants in the ground can survive by keeping the roots warm, plants in containers won't do that., Deep soil temperatures will stay well above the air temperature. Container soil will not.

Furthermore, even in ideal conditions, peas are not high yielding per plant. You need a lot of plants to get a reasonable crop. So they don't really lend themselves to containers unless you're happy with just a handful of peas per pot. You'd get more from climbing beans.

I think regular peas might not do well in planters, unless they are very roomy.

Pinetree Garden Seeds has a few varieties for container growing...

https://www.superseeds.com/collections/peas?filter.p.tag=Ideal+for+Containers+%26+Small+Spaces

You can sow peas very thickly, so have a number of plants in one container. They should be one inch apart, meaning one per square inch and a pot with an 8" diameter can house 50 seeds. I'd be conservative and put no more than 20 in, but that's a lot of peas.

20 is certainly a lot of pea plants but still the yield of actual peas will be modest. You can expect about 4oz per plant if they do well and the harvest period is short. So, yes, you can grow peas in pots but there are better yielding options.

Thank you all - I think I'll wait until I have more growing time.