Here is my 3 year old Hardy Banana Tree Clump. It is root hardy to -20' f. I live in Central Illinois, Zone 5 (min temp. -20' f.) I put wire cages around the plants in the fall and fill with dry straw. Then I wrap it up with clear plastic. Let me know if you have specific questions.
Mark
Newly planted June 2002.
November 2002.
January 2004.
This message was edited Dec 7, 2004 12:26 AM
March 2004.
September 2004.
November 2004 after many frosts.
WOW - that is incredible! I'm survived it survived after seeing what it look liked, uncovered in November 2002. I would love to do some tropicals like that! Neat idea with the wire cages filled with straw - but probably quite the mess in the Spring!
normal1234, are you a zone 5...? this certainly gives me hope for my Musa I ordered.... and I'm so glad you posted all these pics..... I would have given up if I'd uncovered it and it looked like your March 2004 pic...... but now I know it will recover and then some..... GREAT documentary.... and so helpful.... Thanks
Yes. I am Zone 5 ( -20' f.) in Cental Illinois. This plant is planted between my driveway and the neighbors house. The houses are really close. The area where the banana is located is protected and the ground never freezes there. This is a picture I took today 12-7-04.
Mark
Look at him.... snug as a bug...... well dressed for winter....... I hope mine does as well as yours
Amazing. Thank you for the pictures Normal:)
I had heard about this species many times before, but I had never seen this kind of pictures, from different seasons. Nice and interesting:)
Does this species offer edible fruit?
I'm going to try that next year
I tried it two years ago, but out in the open and I can tell you it didn't work out there. Just too cold and the ground freezes. Gosh CC, why don't you just plant one in the ground in your greenhouse? Do you have any bananas yet? My Dwarf Cavendish, same age as Susie's, still has not bloomed. It is in our local greenhouse, nice and toasty. I'm still crossing my fingers.
I have nanas on that unknown and its in the GH
The reason I don't plant one in the ground in the GH is cause they tend to get tall....
and the GH is only 13 foot tall
the one that has nanas on it was 15 foot till the hurricane wrecked all the leaves ,now its only 6 or 7 foot
Plus I'd like to free up some of the space in the GH
I have the dwarf cavendish too but no bloom on it yet
I have six 'nana pups living in my bedroom .
My first try at growing them , but as Brugie said our ground freezes real deep in the winter so they will come in every year.
Or so that is what I'm thinking for now .
I have 2 unknown and one each Cav.Dwarf , Raja Puri , Zebrina and Ele Ele.
I would like to find a Rose and a variegated type banana in the future.(I think) LOL
My perennial nana dies down to the ground and I mulch it with the leaves. This year, it grew to 30' with a 6' spread! I can't imagine how large it would have become if I had covered it as you did Normal!
Scooterbug, a couple years ago Carol sent me a sweet little ver. Banana. It is now taller than the ceiling in my garage and I have to lay it on it's side to overwinter it. It is BEAUTIFUL, but, quickly outgrowing my limited space! You might do better sticking with the dwarf species.
Mel
Really neat pics, normal. My banana is just little and I took it in. I think my z4 is too harsh a winter, even with the protection you did. Sure would be neat to have one looking like yours! Congrats! and WELCOME to DG!
Mel, thanks for the info. Maybe I can find a smaller variety.
Does anyone know if this produces edible fruit? That'd be a definate plus!
No edible fruit but the flowers and pod that emerge are very sci-fi looking. Thanks for all of the comments!!!!
Mark
A banana that grows in zone 7 is good enough for me even with no fruit.
now you have my interest :) what named nana is there that would be dwarf, and edible fruit, I would keep it in planter
I have Dwarf Cavendish that is supposed to stay around 5-6 ft. Mine is in a pot and is probably about 5 ft. now. It is edible.
Super Dwarf Cavendish is supossed to be even smaller, about 4 ft.
Brugie, we need to learn some recipes using banana leaves.
I saw Emeril on Food Network doing something with them last year but had no reason to pay attention.
Eat the fruit & leaves =good plant IMHO
Super Dwarf is what I need to find then. Especially for holding over the winter months. Scoot, I don't think I could keep the leaves from splitting with the winds that we have. They wouldn't be very good for wrapping.
Super Dwarf reaching 5 feet? Like CaptMicha, I thought they only reached max height of 4ft. Is there a difference between the Dwarf Cavendish and the "Super" Dwarf Cavendish? Anyone know how long it takes for them to reach 4ft? Mine's inside now, about 9" tall, sitting in a south-facing window with plenty of room to grow. I've had my Musa basjoo for 2 months now and it's gone from an itty bitty 3.5" plant to 10" and thriving. I can't believe how quickly it's grown!
interesting..............!
I told Russ about this thread today - it intrigued him as well. Unfortunately, we couldn't do that here either, because between our house and the next house is a big huge driveway that we both share to get up to our garages (we own the driveway - she has an easement). Too many cars weaving around each other to ever put in something like that.
Very clever idea though! :-)
My cavendish are supposed to grow to 8' according to my book. I am going to watch for the smaller varieties. Down here, or small banana is the Lady Finger but it's more suseptible to cold.
When I visited Hawaii, they use ti leaves or banana leaves to steam rice& fish or rice & pork in neat tied little packages, oh yes, and chicken too. It's called Laulau.
There are tons of recipes but that is what I ate there.
In Mexico, you can make a banana leaf version of a tamale instead of corn husks. I prefer the taste of it in a banana leaf.
Personally I like to make a spanish rice(the orange one) with pork, soaked and browned in mojo and onions then wrapped and steamed. Tip- put your bana leaf over steam first to make it more pliable and less chance of splitting.
And of course being that my family originated in the Florida Keys, I do an arroz con pollo (yellow rice, peppers & onions )with chicken AND shrimp in banana packages (steamed again) for family parties. I think the key for all of these is to use the ethnic spices for each dish They look awesome and your food is wrapped so there aren't flies on it while on an outside serving table. We even use banana leaves for serving mats.
I will write out how to do it if you want. I am about to do a culinary website that caters to tropical dishes and will let y'all know when so you can get lots of ideas .
It will be carolscuisine.com when I ever get the time to do it! I want to document the recipes with "how-to" pictures which means a spottless kitchen. I wreck it daily- it'll never be spotless.
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