Hi,
Are they hard to grow and are there any that are cold hardy? Can you grow in the house if there isn't?
Nana Tree
Basjoo is supposed to be hardy, but only to zone 7 or 8 I think. There is also one called a "Snow Banana" that is supposed to be the hardiest banana.
I haven't tested them yet, but got some musa basjoo plants from Brian's Botanicals in Louisville, KY. He has had success with them in our region, but we are a 6.
http://www.cloudjungle.dns2go.com/dotnetnuke/briansbotanicals/
Carla
The 'Snow Banana' or Lasiocarpa musella isn't a true banana so don't expect any fruit.
I want one with fruit. :(
I have to disagree with you, three seed companies sell ensete glaucum and call it "Snow Banana" because is is extremely cold tolerant. Here is one listing http://www.rarepalmseeds.com/pix/EnsGla.shtml
Mine is growing, is about 18 inches tall(it's a baby plant) and the leaves are totally different from my Chinese Yellow Banana.
It appears that we are talking about two distinct "snow bananas". I was talking about Lasiocarpa musella from the Yunnana province of China.
Don't ya hate it when two or three different plants have the same common name? The snow banana-ensete glaucum is from China/Nepal and is supposed to be very cold hardy, don't know if it's edible or if it even makes bananas. Also found musa basjoo listed as "Snow Banana" and found two sites that have the Chinese Yellow as "Snow Banana". No wonder people stay confused!!
I've seen the Chinese yellow banana listed more often as musella lasiocarpa, Thompson and Morgan has it as musa lasiocarpa. I can't find it anywhere listed as lasiocarpa musella. You are talking about the banana looking plant, drops all it's leaves when it flowers and the flower is a big yellow upright bloom, right? From what I read in Hortus Third, there is a lot of confusion in the naming of bananas!
I had no idea the "lotus banana", "artichoke banana", "Chinese yellow banana" and "Chinese snow banan" had some many OThER names.
All these names!!!
I thought the botanical name was supposed to eliminate not contribiute confusion. lol
I got the info for ID on my snow banana from the Plant Delights website. Here's the link.
http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Images/sld14557.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.plantdelights.com/Catalog/Current/Detail/03813.html&h=350&w=238&sz=17&tbnid=OugL5vEv6aYJ:&tbnh=114&tbnw=78&start=25&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dchinese%2Bbanana%26start%3D20%26hl%3Den%26lr%3D%26sa%3DN
They seem to delight in confusion of the masses!! I had no idea they had so many names for that one variety!