OK, the cliche was to get your attention!
I want to add a Musa to my garden and since most are hardy to my zone anyway, I want to get the most ornamental one I can find!
Can you please post photos of your favorite musas, preferably with id if you have it?
Thanks guys!
Rob
Going Bananas!
I like this one, musa sumatrana "Rojo":
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/38351/
this one, musa paradisiaca, Ae Ae:
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/1252/ . Ae ae has the added advantage of producing striped fruit. :)
and this one, musa "Siam Ruby":
http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/go/158246/
-Joe
Joe, you made it hard for me, lol! All 3 are absolutely stunning! Do you personally have any of those? The AE AE seems to be a little fussy?
Actually those are all on my hit list -- in Ohio without a greenhouse I can grow musa basjoo, and I might be able to get away with musa itinerans. Ae ae I wouldn't try without a green house, simply because the pups cost so much. Rojo and Siam Ruby from what I have read are relatively easy to keep going. I'll try them in containers when I create some more room (greenhouse.)
I don't have any of these three right now. Ruby is my next. I'm hoping bwilliams and tropicman might pick up on this thread, for living in temperate climates they have excellent experience with nanners. :)
-Joe
Great thanks! Hopefully these guys will chime in too.
this is my praying hands naner it gets huge. not very ornamental though.
I think it's beautiful! : )
have you thought about heliconias they are ornamental and have sort of banana looking leaves
Heliconias are my favorite! I have the pups you gave me in the ground now! But Heliconias don't look good all year round over here, they are more of a special treat...I want to plant the banana right behind those heliconias so that I can have something more "permanent" looking all year long...
The Ruby red banana is still pretty new, but I have one that did great in a container in full summer all last summer and overwintered well inside and is back outside now, still looking great. I would think that it would do well for you. I still love this Ensete the best http://davesgarden.com/guides/pf/showimage/85149/
That one has a gorgeous form, Tigerlilly. It's almost sculptural.
-Joe
You are right, Joe-it does have great form, never thought so much about that. Its the color of the leaves/stem that really gets me. A rich dark green with red in it. I took a close up of it once , its in this thread http://davesgarden.com/community/forums/t/745386/
Those are pretty cool pics!
Birthday gift- I mistakenly refered to it as an Ae Ae, and was advised several times it is not, (the difference??? probably where it came from)
Mai Koa'ae.... also called manini
New leaf opened up. Seems to like Cow manure, and Soluable Hibiscus fertilzer.18-8-28 . I'm told that bananas like high Potash.
What a beauty... will you get bananas??
I doubt it. I don't think the season is long enough here.
Thanks Joe,
Been eating fresh bananas all week,and I have another cavendish in flower and fruit just starting ,and believe me,they are so much better tasting then store bought!!!
Rob,you need to checkout Encanto Farms Nursery,right there in San Diego,they grow over a 100 varieties of bananas.
http://www.webebananas.com/
I'm sure you'll find one you'll like!
Don
Don, that's what I am going to do! Awesome!!
Cool TM :) Glad you found us in here! :)
-Joe
Your Welcome
Thanks,glad I could help!
I have zone envy! How deeply do I need to plant to get a banana tree to survive in KY? I have lost a couple the last 2 yrs.
Thanks,
Teresa in KY
zone 6
I have 4 bananas that I bought at Wal-Mart this spring that are supposed to be cold hardy, but the fruit is just ornamental. I have always assumed they were the basjoo variety. They are supposed to get 12 to 15 ft. high. Anyone know of any other varieties that would survive zone 6 without digging them up? I have planted a lot of elephant ears I am going to have to dig up, along with my caladiums. I REALLY don't want to have to dig up my whole backyard every fall. Getting too old for that. But I am trying to give a tropical look to my backyard. I love the foliage of cannas. I found some on ebay that are supposed to be cold hardy. If anyone has any ideas, holler!
Julia, I don't blame you! I think you are all very brave to dig your plants every year...boy I'm not sure I would be able to keep up!
I heard the Basjoo bananas are the most cold hardy. As for the cannas....I do not believe in any cannas being cold hardy...they like it HOT!!! But don't quote me on that, maybe someone here will know for sure?
I have had cannas for years. As a matter of fact, YEARS ago my mother gave me some from her yard (she had hers planted on the west property line against a neighbor's fence. never dug them up.). I had mine planted in my flower bed on the south side (the back) of the house. I never dug them up. Then. Suddenly. Who knows why. I woke up one day and decided I was tired of them and planted snowball bushes there. A few years ago I decided to dig up the snowball bushes and plant them on the south property line so they would have more room to grow, and I planted red tipped phoetinias in there place. All of a sudden, cannas started coming up last year! Can you believe that? After at least 3 if not 4 years! So I dug them up last fall because they were growing too close to the top and I didn't want them to freeze out. I know I will not have to dig them up again. They grow as tall as the roof of my house. It's just that I know sometimes they don't come back if they are not protected. Although, the other day I was driving down the street and saw someone had a circular shaped flower bed out at the end of their yard next to the street and it was full of cannas. I have heard so many people say they don't dig theirs up. I just don't want to spend a lot of money on some that I think are beautiful and them not come back next year. I would be heartbroken. And I didn't know 'til this year that their were so many varieties! And some have just beautiful foliage! I have my eye on a couple on ebay. One has black foliage and the other is red on the back side and striped on the front! By the way. My tobacco plant seeds have hatched! I am now thinking of trying to put them in a pot.
Yeeey! That's awesome! I'm going to send you the pink abutilon this week. I've been waiting for the red&yellow to go to seed but it's taking too long, I dont' get it!
My redbuds are doing great too!
Isn't it great when you get surprise like this as for your cannas? There is nothing that makes me happier! It happened with me on a wisteria vine that was fumigated when we bought the house, then chopped down with an ax by my DH who thought it couldn't be saved...wrong! LOL
You are going to have to teach me how to find the seeds on the abutilons. I actually do have a red one and a yellow one and one I THINK is white. I bought them this spring, only Michigan bulb called it a tri-color flowering maple. They advertised it as a tree that bloomed three different colors. Makes you think its all on the same tree, but when I got it I discovered it was three little plants growing together. I will welcome the pinks. I will probably bring it in this fall as a houseplant. Again. Can't let anything die. Plus, I don't like starting over every spring.
yeah it must be hard! I'll do this then. I will send you the pinks IN the seedpods so you can see what you should be looking for! It's really weird how the pink always seed and not the other ones...
But isn't it nice that there is always something you can count on? That will be a great plan! Education is sooo much better when the hands on approach is used! So. Are you telling me you never have to start over? Never get a freeze? Don't plants peter out when they don't have a dormant season? Frankly. I would miss winter. I LOVE the snow. Especially when I can look at it from my living room window sitting on the couch! And Christmas just would never be the same. It is nice to have 4 seasons because just when you think you are so sick of one you are going to scream, it changes. I just LOVE Oklahoma. It is beautiful here. Even in western Oklahoma. People think it's nothing but dirt and tumbleweeds, but that is just not true. As a matter of fact, I can't remember the last time I saw a tumbleweed. We used to have horney toads here when I was a child, but I haven't seen those either. I suppose they may still have those in the country.
Yep...no freezes...I counlnt imagine having to start over every year! But, because of this, there are many beautiful plants that we can't have...Hostas for example. I absolutely love Hostas, but apparently if they can't "sleep" they don't grow...this year I am experimenting with 3 hostas (I couln't resist!) and I am going to put them in the fridge for the winter....
We do have plants that go dormant in winter, but they never need to be taken inside!
I thought I would share my basjoo with you.
-Joe
Mind you I wouldn't share my basjoo with just anyone.
This picture was just taken. Next to the door you can get an idea of its size. In its corner it is protected from the west and the north. I think I could have probably gotten away with a less hardy banana here.
No biggie, I am fond of my basjoo, and I love how it kind of reaches out and touches you as you go in and out the door. :)
-Joe
This is looking down towards my side door. The yucca filamentosas at the side of the porch had to peek in, and you can see another window well full of opuntia humufusa.
And everyone can see I need to replace a trim board above my door, and do some painting. It's in the plans. I just finally got the rest of my tropicals stuck in the ground. Now I hafta start mulching.
-Joe
This is its second year outside. Yah I am pretty happy with it. It was $15.00 at Lowe's down in Marion. :)
As long as they are planted near a winter heat source, and given LOTS of food they'll do great. :) I watered mine this spring with ashes from a fire pit, and I went to the local sewage treatment plant and got a pile of processed sludge. It/they have been well fed.
I am wondering if I can safely divide them this fall. I have other places that can use a touch of the tropics.
-Joe
Been eating home grown bananas for about 3 weeks and at least another couple weeks to go,and let me tell you these are the sweetest bananas you'll ever taste!!!
Joe, your basjoo looks very happy in that warm corner! Tropicman..I want some edible bananas too. I've been looking for the exact variety we eat in Brazil so that I can plant one!