Surprise banana bloom

Had I not seen the blooms in Hawaii would not have recognized this. The foliage is the only reason they are grown here, unless you have a hoop house to protect it. Mine is very exposed to the elements and never even entertained the idea that it would bloom. Purchased it last year from the landscaper and he has no idea what variety it is. Looked out this morning and the entire plant was laying on the ground. I suppose from the high winds we have had for days and days. DH pulled it back up and it is tethered to the banana next to it.

Will try to get another picture today. The tops of the tallest plants are already burned from the frost we had this weekend. Today it is 70 degrees. Tomorrow is supposed to have a low of 35 again.

Hi, Lou - how nice - my neighbor has a grove of bananas in his front yard. The plants are about 15' tall and loaded with blooms and bananas. He tells me the fruit won't ripen, due to expected freezes, but the bananas are green and full-sized. He doesn't know which variety his are either. I am praying to the god of horticulture that they will ripen. The blooms are just gorgeous!

I sure hope they don't get frost bitten. Now in Florida I might expect blooms. Dallas, Texas...not a chance.

Christi

Yeah that's the bad thing about bananas...it takes 15-18 months to get fruit and that just doesn't jive with out less than tropical climate most places. I always get blooms, sometimes get fruit, but have only ever gotten any I could try to eat once. It was not a very tasty banana, so now we leave them for the squirrels. But the blooms are very nice.

It doesn't matter if your leaves frost off. As long as the trunk does not freeze and go down, you can still get a bloom once the weather warms up. That's how it works here...the leaves frost off of all the bananas (usually more than once a winter) but the trunks are always okay, so if a plant is mature enough at teh start of winter, it will go on and bloom the next season here.

Thank you. We have already enjoyed the surprise of having a bloom at all.

Christi

Kay- If the fuit is full size on your neighbor's bananas, tell him to leave them on as long as possible. Then, just before your first frost, cut the entire fruit stalk off and bring it into the house or garage where it's somewhat warmer, and they will ripen in a couple of weeks. We live on the Gulf Coast near Galveston, and that's what I do with mine even when the weather is warm. A strong on-shore breeze like we get in the summer can fold a top-heavy banana stalk over in heartbeat. Hey, Christi- It's a credit to you to get a bloom spike in Dallas. You must baby your plants. :)

Thanks for the compliment, Karlae. Last winter I discovered a "dirt yard" about 5 miles from us right on 35E. Had the yard crew haul some of what they termed Dallas Special Soil. In it and already mixed was Lava Sand, Texas Green Sand and hardwood mulch from this area. It has been like Jack and The Beanstalk ever since. I had back surgery this summer and other than DH watering, everything was pretty much on its own. My Lord.
You wouldn't believe how big everything grew. Only additive we ever did was Epsom Salt.

Supposed to be 28 tonight and stay below freezing for most of tomorrow. That will be the end of the bloom. So thrilled that I even had a start that I am happy.

Maybe next year.

Christi

Beautiful pic Christi!

I love the alocasias.

louC, Great looking bananas, EE's. To bad that the COLD will damage them tonite. What is the name of the " dirt yard " on 35E? Is it very expensive? Jerry

Christi,
you should try some of the smaller growing ornamental bananas. You will get blooms every year in plenty of time to enjoy them before frost. Look for Musa velutina (the 'Pink Velvet' banana) and Musa laterita (sometimes called, erroneously, 'Ornata Bronze').

The bananas on these are not edible, but they have beautiful blooms and are the "annuals" of the banana world...they grow, bloom and die back all in one season. I think I have pics somewhere of mine.

These are 3 that have naturalized in my yard. They freeze to the ground every winter and always come back up. They bloom every season.
First is an ornata called "Hot Pink"
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/Bihai/MusaOrnataHotPink.jpg

This is Musa laterita (also sometimes sold as Ornata Bronze)
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/Bihai/MusaOrnataBronze.jpg

This is Musa velutina, Pink Velvet Banana
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/Bihai/MusaVelutina-1.jpg

This message was edited Dec 4, 2008 9:32 PM

This is a Raja Puri. It's one of the ones we routinely get blooms on every other year. The blooms are pretty massive.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v466/Bihai/RajaPuri.jpg

Queen, those are beautiful. Mine hasn't gotten past the stage that you see above and probably won't as we had 28 degrees last night. Lots of burned plants this morning.
I will research your bananas as I have been bitten by the tropical bug. Most of the large plants I have are root hardy and they have 8 months a year to "do their thang".

Jerry, may need to have you come for a consultation on a hoop house.

Have to look up the dirt yard. Will get right back to you.

Christi

This is the website: http://www.livingearth.net/

This message was edited Dec 5, 2008 12:56 PM

LOL, Hey Princess, how about selling and moving farther south? forget the Hoop House!!
That's cool about the banana blooms!

I have a couple of those ornamental bananas you can have for your Jungle Heights Haul this spring!

My banana is bending like Karlae mentioned. I suppose I should cut it? I have no idea what to do with it.

Heck, just wrote a long post to you and lost it.....yeck.

I hear Pepole from Desoto and Oak Cliff have that trouble what was i saying. oh well

What if you are previously Oak Cliff and now DeSoto? no hope.

Yes, that's worst than frozen banana plants! But not as bad these EE's. PIC. from last winter.

All of my EE and bananas are fully exposed. Watching them slowly die as the temp drops. However, they do that every year and in the spring they are bigger than ever. First time for brugs. Took cuttings from all of them and they are rooting in the greenhouse. Just have to let nature take its course. Praying they are root hardy.

I know.. I have Still have large EE's in the garden...even have Hilo beauties still throwing out leaves...will see after the next two days...oh well better two days than twenty!

The wind chill is 28 ( #@$!%^&* ) And the weatherman says it will be *70 and sunny on sunday ( in Dallas ) YEA this is TEXAS

no kidding....this weeks chronicle blog is
"From Skeeters to Frost how do we cope!?

Cope? More papers over windows. Wearing two pairs of long johns.And a BIG rum and coke.

and a lighter for when we spit the lit rum at the mosquitos

Oh my. Another talent. Fire eater.

RJ, YOU DA MAN!!!!!!!!!!!!

If you get fruit but it doesn't have time to ripen fully, do as Karlae suggests, but put the entre fruit stalk in a big bag you can tie closed, leave in a closet for a week or so. The fruit emits ethylene gas --if held inside the bag and allowed to become somewhat concentrated, the gas will cause the fruit to ripen very nicely, in my experience. This is the effect that those "green bags" advertised on cable TV are intended to prevent --you want it to happen in your case.

Jerry, is it snowing at your house? Just came from our daughter's only two miles from us and it is snowing and sleeting there big time. When we got home, nothing. OK with me.

louC, No snow and it has stoped sleeting. Y-E-A!!!!!!!!!

Yes, we use to do that with the banana stocks in Africa (Liberia). We would get stocks of those little red bananas and put them in a closet for a couple of weeks.

Christi,you should have cut the flower and ate it!!!!
Well now maybe frozen bananas,I seem to remember there was dessert for that a long time ago!

Don, it never opened any further than the picture in the first post. This morning it is really sad...all black and hanging down among the orange/brown banana leaves. Two nights of upper 20's kind of does a girl in.

So sad for you,well there's always next year,and I'll keep my fingers crossed it bloom earlier!

Other than the "special soil" we added to everything last winter, I never gave it anything but Epsom Salt. Think if I fed it something it would have a better chance of blooming? Now remember it dies almost to the ground every year and has to start over. This year they are probably 14-15 feet tall. Oddly, the pup grew much taller and larger around than the "mother" and she is the one that has the bloom.

A banana usually flowers after it has grown at least 39 leaves give or take a few,and that was some fast growing,so anything is possible.

Don, I only count 11 today and perhaps a couple more have been cut off during the summer. Would that count however many it had last year before freezing to the ground?

Well it may depend on the weather if warmer you may get more,or colder less will come back,do you ever protect them in any way?

Only mulch on the root area. Have had this little group for 3 years. Have no reason to protect the trunk as they always come back and never, ever expected a bloom.