What a HUGE shock!!

And boy, am I in trouble now. Once they flower, they die right?? I will need a crew to take this down and haul it out. It TOWERS over my house!! I couldn't get my arms around its base for the last couple of years.

I almost missed the event! We have had such rain here, I rarely go out back in the mud. We had a day of sunshine and I was out on my porch. I just happened to glance up. What a shock. I just gawked at it.

The flower itself is so huge. We are talking in yards here not inches.

Ensete ventricosum

wow wee! how long have your had this e.v.? I think that a pup comes up after mama dies. I have one that was 1 year old when I bought and I've had 2 years, so that makes 3.

I wish I could remember when I planted this. It was a small one in a gallon can. Now it towers over my house. See my roof in the picture?

The bloom is on the left.

Here is a picture from directly under it.

omg, i will die if mine gets like that. I simply don't have the room. It is planted in my banana grove, just no room! eecks

think, think! 5 years, 10?

See the bloom stalk? It is huge. LOL

Too bad it is not PINK, Vossner.

You want me to think?? LOL. Well it was planted after our great freeze. I now have to figure out when that was. The freeze killed the one I had planted there. But I had another in between I think that died. I had no clue it would get so big. My DH will kill me when we have to get rid of it.

The last 2 years it has just gone nuts growing. I never water it either in the summer or fertilize it. It is a very neglected plant.

I can't say it is a pretty thing. And it sure won't fit in one of vases. LOL

I was afraid these little cute things were baby plants. Can you imagnie if they take off in the wind? LOL

I got curious about the ultimate height of E.ventricosum — 34ft. I also found that it requires lots of water and you have had lots of it these last two years. If the current trend continues, after mama dies, you'll have a very tall banana forest.

I wonder, will a falling banana tree crush a roof? :-)

Now there is something to make a momma proud!

see kell
You got a nana to bloom.....
ROTFLMAO

Hey Kell! That sounds like a dream banana for me! I have ice cream banana which are maybe 12 feet and I have dwarf banana which are less than 4 feet. Wanna trade some pups? I only have a few Dwarf Red banana.

Your banana tree won't die because it has bloomed. What happens is once it fruits, then it dies. Know any horse chicken or pig people? Critters love the chopped up stalk!

Oh Veronica, now I won't sleep nights. LOL What a terrible thought. If that were to happen my DH would push me under it as it fell.

Oh cyberageous, this one won't make bananas. They call it a false banana. I have no pups yet..........


CC, still no bananas and I won't ever get any either. The other one I have is the red one that does not make bananas either. Red Abyssinian Banana, another false one. So you will always be ahead of me. LOL

This message was edited Apr 11, 2006 7:18 PM

it looks like little shop of horrors. have you heard it say feeeed me seymor yet. lol.

Wow what a beauty! I have a 1 year old I grew from seed. You are supposed to dig them up and put them in a shed here for the winter! I don't think I can do that, I will have to try heavy mulching and wrapping. Looks like I will have a busy time ahead!

wallaby1-are you saying that a year ago, that plant was just a seed that you germinated? Wow-these plants are monsters.How long did it take to germinate?

Hi, I think it was about 1 month. I got a cheap lot of 50 seeds from ebay and that was the only one I got. I germinated it in a dark cupboard next to the fireplace where it gets warm with the central heating pump.

That pic was taken in September, they do grow quickly but I have it inside for winter. I will have to plant it in the ground later, but not until late May as we can still get frosts up until June.

They are frost sensitive too, Janet. In the winters I get frost, I get leaf burn. I want to see you dig it up in a few years! LOL. You will have to build it, its own conservatory. What a pretty baby!


LOL Candela.

Kell, it will bloom for several months so you will have all summer to think about what to do with it if it dies. I've got one that bloomed last year, we cut the fruit around Christmas and the tree is still green. The thing is, they can't grow any new leaves after they flower, so don't chop off any leaves.

Susie, do you know what those little squigglies are around the bloom in my 6th pic down?

AWESOME! My Big Momma also towers over my house and has a bloom about to pop out on it! I have been wondering what the bloom would look like, now I have a little bit of an idea! Yesterday I first noticed the bloom on it and it looked liek a green torpedo. Today it is turning purplish and is starting to point downwards a little. I just bought the house last fall, but when we were looking at the house and right after I bought it, some of the naners had produced fruit...they grow in clusters like 'real' banaans...but they are only about an inch or two long. Both times I saw them the fruit had laready gone bad and the second time, I foolishly reached up to pull off the 'dead' nanners and got stung by a yellow jacket...The buzzing should have clued me into the fact that a bunch of yellow jackets were isnide the peels feasting on the rotten fruit. They are carnivors, but get a sweet tooth towards the ned of summer or early Fall. So, with that info, even though I have not seen the fresh abanas on my gtrees, I know they produce fruit or the yellow jackets would not have been going crazy inside the bananas. Eureka! LOL! I'll be sure to post pics when Big Momma's bloom opens. BTW, my nanners put up six pups this year. I'e got a veritable Nanner grove out there! LOL!

Oh, my sis told me that the stalks are FULL or potassium...just like the fruit...so they make great mulch! I took the two dead nanner stalks I had and chopped them up and mulched my other plants with them. It will be interesting to see how much the other plants appreciate the nanner mulch! So far, the Rose of Sharon seems to be thriving with it...but the other plant I mulched is still in shock from being dug up, then driving down the interstate at 70 mph in the back of a pick 'em up truck.....just to come live with me. :)

Duuuuhhhh.
False banana?!?
Someone, please drill some more info into this thick head?
I cannot seem to find a name for this in any post; what, exactly is it?
The greenhorn, not green thumb...yet.

Ensete ventricosum, mentioned above the first pic.

kell, do you have a full pic of it? Top to bottom? Would love to see a view of the whole thing!

WELCOME to Dave's Bamabelle! I hope you can find your way around OK. Now I am confused, so Ensete ventricosum make little naners?? I thought they didn't thus their name false banana! I had no idea bees like bananas. Your poor finger!! I hope your plant you brought with you does great and perks up. I can't imagine cutting up one of these bananas leaves. They are huge. I do not even have place where I could lay it down except maybe my driveway. I used my husband's biggest knife, much to his chagrin, to cut the leaves off when they start to age too much. It would take me forever to cut one up small enough for mulch. I need a mulch machine.

Sally, I am going to go read up on it again too. I seem to need info too. LOL

No Janet, I do not. No room to get it. There is a apricot tree in front and it is wedged on the side of my house between the house and the fence.

You sure gro' em big, there, Kell.....hehehe

It's good you don't have huricanes...

Hap

WOW!