Pacific Northwest Gardening: Did my hardy banana make it, and how do I know?, 0 by

wrote:
I was very worried about losing my Musa bajoos over the winter and for once, I had a plan. If you look closely in this photo you'll see the banana on the left, covered with plastic and with christmas lights strung around it. I made cages with bird netting and large wooden stakes, filled the cages with straw, wrapped with lights, then covered the entire thing with heavy plastic and twine. It was a lot of work, but it worked and my bananas never really died back. They were already growing through the straw when I uncovered them this year and each one is putting out new leaves. There are several pups on one of them, and, I think a couple of pups on the other one. I'm hoping for a nice stand if the voles don't get them. (Welcome to the club, Caleb. You have my complete sympathy.) I also covered my New Zealand tree fern the same way and it is putting up new fronds. If we don't get some heat soon, though, all of this effort may not have been worth it.