I bought these 2 bananas a couple weeks ago, which were clearance priced at lowes. The labels on their containers say Musa Siam Gold, but I get no results when I goolgle it, except Musa Siam Ruby. Just wondering how cold hardy they are. Because of their small size, I'll be wintering them indoors.
I just googled musa siam gold again, and came across musa siam yellow. (I must have been out to lunch yesterday when I googled.) If it's the same plant, it's supposed to be cold hardy to zone 8a and somewhat rare. I'm not aware of Lowes selling "rare" plants - I probably read the adjective "rare" on a store website site marketing siam yellows. I lost several rojo's last winter to cold that were marketed as cold hardy in zone 8a, so from now on,
I'll mulch all "zone 8a" bananas. I still consider it false advertising when zone 8a plants have to be mulched to survive zone 8a temps.
I caught Lowe's selling A LOT of bananas that are NOT cold hardy in zone 8a this year. I would have pointed it out to them, but no one would probably care at the store. I went ahead and got a few Rojo's and Gran Nain's - but I don't expect any of them to survive. I lost a lot of my 8a bananas this past winter - hoping it's milder this year.
I still refer to your comprehensive thread concerning banana cold hardiness here in the midlands, keon. I hope he's wrong, but accuweather meteorologist Joe Bastardi is predicting the next 2 - 3 winters are going to be the coldest since the late 1970's. If he's right, my marginal palms and bananas may be toast, even with protection.
Yikes, I hope that's not the case. But I guess these winters were going to catch up with us tropical lovers sooner or later :(
I hope he's wrong, too. but last year he was spot on. He first predicted record snows for the midAtlantic last winter and record cold for the Southeast and Fl. BTW, he's also forecasting historic cold for Fl again this upcoming winter. We'll see.
