Here are some of my larger Ensetes being brought in for winter. In the pic are from left to right Keon one of my workers Berl my father and Mark he may have some brain damage.
Bananas and cousins coming in for winter.
Here is a pic of a few Ensete ventricosums getting ready to go in for winter.
Here is a pic of some of my more rare forms of bananas. The last two to the right are a new form with a black trunk and the variegated Ae Ae.
Here is a closer look of the one with a black trunk. It is very beautiful but this pic does not do it much justice. The trunk is really dark dark purple to black.
That's very nice! I never saw one like that before.
This is the banana everyone will be talking about in 2 to 5 years. This is a unknown species that is cold hardy probably more cold tolerant than basjoo. It also has some of the largest flowers of any Musa in the world. Its flowers are Maroon to red and huge. It can grow to about 30 feet tall and the trunks have some pink coloration to them. It has huge Rhizomes under the ground much like a Canna would that go down about 1 to 2 feet deep. This will be the new plant to get in the near future for people interested in hardy tropicals.
Here is a picture of some of the rhizomes I cut off of this amazing Banana. I have never seen one quite like this. I am not sure yet if I will get to put a name to it or if the any botanist are really working on the group. I may get to put a name on it for a time till a botanist puts a scientific name to it.
Brian, were these plants growing in the ground? In some of the pictures it looks like you have done a lot of pruning of the older leaves. Where do you "store" them for the winter, and do you get any growth? Or are you just waiting for Spring?
My first impression of the 30 footer was "I've got to have one." I must be loosing it!
Thanks,
Dave
Most of these large bananas go into one of two of the larger greenhouses. I have one greenhouse that is 60 X 50 and has a celling around 15 to 20 feet most of my father palms and some of these large ensetes go into that greenhouse. My other greenhouse is 30 feet wide and 80 feet long its 22feet tall in the peak of the celling. This greenhouse is a bit like a conservatory and in the back section is a area for storing larger plants for winter. I do get some growth out of the plants but not a whole lot. The average low temp in the greenhouse is 60f. For the most part I wait for spring to put them back out in the ground each year. Though as I keep testing I am starting to use more and more hardy bananas and I think only the colorful forms will in the future be brought in and out and the rest will be mulched. At the moment I have about 5 forms that have proven to be hardy here.
I hardier banana? I'll need at least 3... It would be sooooo nice to leave it in the ground over winter and and then in spring anxiously wait for your summer paradise. I so enjoy your pics Brian. -B
Brian, I have 3 Ensete ventricossum 'Maurielle' that I'm willing to trade for one offset of that new banana! I'll even throw in some pieces of green paper with President Jackson's picture in the center....
I was about to ask how your plants handled the first frost of the year.... Interestingly enough, all the stuff I got from you that I planted in the ground (I'm keeping half the colocasias and the white buterfly ginger inside this winter) has made it through the frost without damage, but the Hardy bananas I got from PDN are already dying back....
Brian I wonder if the banana w/ the black trunk is Ele Ele. If so, I hope you post a pic in the plant files as there aren't very many good pic of this variety. Yours is a fine specimen. Was the trunk of yours black when it was a young plant, or did it get black as it matured?
I have an Ele Ele, has been a slow grower but it is in good health. Trunk is not very dark that I can tell.
Crystalnurse, go to Brian's Botanicals.
I dont believe it is Ele Ele though it could be. It is a new form out of Thailand. It looks similar to some forms I have seen of Ele Ele but the other forms I have had never look as dark as this though photos I have seen look very similar.
Those are all amazing in size and height! I would luv to try one of your new hardier ones next year and plant it in our new property very deep passed our frost line.
:) Donna
Great pictures. You should move to a warmer climate, Brian. I can only imagine what you would be able to accomplish. Easier on the body too.
Kell, I was going to say that too LOL, YOu have definitely got your work cut out for you every year twice a year, putting it all in and then taking it all out. Wow !! is all I can say. Kudos to you Brian.
Lovely
Crystal, you'll need to go to Ebay to find brians botanicals
AWESOME!
Or, if you're willing to make the trip and have a weekend free, you could drive to Brian's retail store... an 8-hour trip for me, and believe you me, worth every hour... He has a much greater variety of plants at the retail store than what he lists online, and, for field-grown plants, you get to pick your plants out! I bought about $120 worth of plants, which pretty much filled my small car, and they were well worth what I paid for them, too.... The hardy Colocasias I got from Brian (the ones I planted outside at the beginning of September, that is... the rest are sitting on a table near my computer) have withstood 4 nights of frost without any damage! The neighbors on top of the next hill over have the regular not-so-hardy EEs, and their plant is all but dead (the above ground part that is).
Brian, I definitely have my eye on that new banana you got.... I'm still planning on buying the pink velvet ones from you next spring, too.... I also have some palm seeds your dad might be interested in trying out, too... They are hybrid ButiaxJubaea seeds, and hopefully, if they're viable, the resulting tree will be hardier than the parent species.... I'll be trying to germinate them this winter in a pot with Perlite that is set beside our pellet stove (so that they get even heat)... any other tips you have for germinating palm seeds would be helpful (like whether I should cover the pot with plastic or not)...
Great pics, bwilliams, and wonderful plants!! What zone are you in?? What is the coldest zone that they can be wintred in the ground???
Great picstures and growing good Luck !
Brian, DGers would be delighted if you'd edit your profile to show your USDA Zone 6a.
Great pictures! Do the plants still produce bananas when you leave rhizomes in the ground?
Thanks, Pat
I'm nutz for the plants in the first photo!!!!! Do you think they could winter in the ground in zone 8a, in southeast Arkansas?? With plenty of mulch?? Would I be correct in assuming that next spring would be a better time to plant them in the ground??
Brian - we are planning a visit to your place, but want to know the best time to come - Spring ? After reading what Hikaro said above, guess we need to bring a bus since at least 3 of us will be coming (and all of us will be buying).
Bonnie
Bonnie, I told him I was coming w/ an RV lol.
What huge lovely plants!!!
I'm assuming you have them on a drip line....what is your technique-schedule for watering?
Robert.
AuntB - are you planning a trip too ?
Yes, I am. Not sure exactly when...Brian told me the best time to see everything is in late summer, cause it's all getting big and blooming, but I kind of know what I want (plus if I don't see everything blooming, I may not spend so much money) lol, so I might just head over there earlier in the summer maybe even spring. I'm probably more of an aroid nut, but I love his canna's, too and banana plants, and palms, and.... it just doesn't cease with me. If it isn't hardy in my zone (5b), then I either have a passion for it or am developing one. lol I knew when I saw some pics of Brians place earlier this year, that YES indeed, I AM going to SEE his establishment in person, meet and talk with Brian and his "family", and of course spend lot's of $$$ on stuff that is not hardy where I live. I have Col. Coffee Cups from his Ebay store growing on my desk, nice plant, prompt curteous service and very well packed. I want some of HIS stuff, also. It will take me about 8 hours by automobile... how long will it take you?
AuntB - it will only take us about 5 1/2 hrs. That will be a good road trip.
I had gotten one of the Coffee Cups from him also, but mine isn't doing that good. Had it outside all summer in a pot, and now have brought it in. It just hasn't taken off. I also got the pink china (among other things like the Col. Milky Way)from him this year - hoping the pink china is hardy to my zone - we will see.
Bonnie
Well I see that the new Banana is already getting you all interested. I have tested it out last year were it survived with easily. Last year was not that cold so I am not yet sure how much cold it can take. After looking at its rhizomes that deep in the ground I would think it is as hardy or hardier than basjoo and could take a lot of cold temps with its rhizomes surviving easily well below the frost line. I unfortunatly have just a few and probably will not be offering it till next spring. It is however getting TCed. As for Colocasia Pink China its the toughest tropical I have seen it should be protected the first year for sure specially if it did not do well. But once it gets going I now find it all over the place and it is on the verge of being a weed, I love it. For all that don't know I am in Louisville KY zone6 we get cold here and I think we live in one of the harshest places on earth to grow plants. We can get highs during the summer up to 115f and lows down to -20f this is not common our average low is -10 which is why I am a supporter for global warming LOL.
As for when to visit! It all depends on what you really want to see. In the spring it is a great time to get stuff sense you have all summer to grow it out. It is also a great time to see the odd aroids like Amorphophallus blooming. Late spring to summer is great for seeing the new canna hybrids. The end of the year well here is a pic of one of the walk ways at the end of the season.
A tropical paradise! Beautiful walk!!!
Beautiful walkway Brian! But then again, all the pictures I've seen of your place are beautiful. Like raydio said - "A tropical paradise"
Guess that means at least 2 trips next year.
Are you accepting a waiting list on the new banana's ?
Brian- you will be my inspiration! I am not a commercial grower but someday hope to retire with a farm stand. I live in a tropical environment and don't need to "winter" my plants. I can't imagine how hard it must be for you to have so much wonderful stuff out of their zones. It makes me embarrassed that I live in paradise and have only a pink finger of what you have. Altho I'm in the "Paradise Zone", you certainly HAVE the Paradise. Kudos!!!!
Oh, my, your walkway is pure joy, it looks so tropical, imagine that!!! Do you plant your bananas in sun, or in shade?? I have two dwarf bananas planted in the ground that get morning sun, but not the full afternoon sun. My afternoon sun Is SOOOOOO HOT, and, as babies the bananas wilted, they were in pots then. Putting them in the ground and in some shade has been so good for them. But, I'd like to here about the locations, with regard to sun, where you plant yours. Zone 6 should be paradise but your highs and lows are almost idential to my zone 8a in southeast Arky. Which tropicals do you leave in the geound?? Do you have a nursery and, if so, where might I find you online?? I love your photos!!!