I bought this at a nursery yesterday I quickly read the description but somehow totally missed the words ORNAMENTAL BANANA. For cryin' out loud. The plant is a nice plant but it says on line that it will die after blooming. Does anyone have any experience with this variety? How long to bloom? Should I treat it like an annual or can I get it to grow more than one year? I've tried looking it up online, but I only confused myself. Thanks.
Ensete - Tandarra Red
Hi,
I have the Ensete maurellii and it is on its 3rd year. I think the two are very similiar. Mine has not bloomed, and I don't know if the same is true of it, or if that is even true. I looked yours up on 2 0r 3 different sites and none of them said it would die after blooming. But I guess most would not advertise that fact. Anyway, just wanted to tell you that if the two are very similiar then I would think you have at least 2-3 years with it. I keep mine protected during the winter so that it does not 'die down'. I did read somewhere that the maurellii di not produce 'pups'.
Thanks, I was confused by the different, conflicting information on some sites. I will protect it this winter. It's a lovely plant.
I appreciate the information.
Ensete maurellii is really Ensete ventricosum "Maurellii". It and the "Tandarra Red" are just different cultivars of the species. I don't know if the "Maurellii" produces pups, but supposedly the "Tandarra Red" doesn't and has to be forced to pup by cutting off the top, probably after blooming and before it dies. Death of the main stalk following blooming and/or fruiting is fairly common among bananas & relatives.
http://www.bananas.org/wiki/Ensete_ventricosum_'Maurelii'