"Yes, we have no bananas", is something said by many temperate zone gardeners. Yet it does not have to be so. Some bananas are hardier than you might think. Gardeners in the United States can grow many cultivars outdoors with just a little protection. There are several bananas that are even cold around USDA hardiness zone 7 (average winter minimum temperature of 5 degrees F). Regardless of your climate, you can always enjoy bananas in containers or as tender perennials. If you crave amazing, tropical, bold-textured foliage and exotic flowers in your garden (plus perhaps some edible fruit), you should try growing a banana... you just might develop a taste for them.
History and Background of Bananas
Banana "trees" are tropical herbaceous perennials (not real trees) in the family Musaceae, although the game of rearranging plant families continues as we learn more about plant relationships from DNA testing. The family Musaceae is closely related to other well known ornamental tropicals such as Bird-of-Paradise (Strelitziaceae), Canna Lily (Cannaceae), and the tropical gingers (Zingiberaceae). Within the family Musaceae, there are 3 genera of bananas; Ensete, Musa, and Musella.
Bananas are native to Southeast Asia, China, Madagascar and Africa. Forty million years ago, bananas were also native to North America as far north as Oregon, so they certainly should be included in your native plant garden. In the wild, bananas range from low equatorial elevations to high altitudes in the tropics, where we find the cold tolerant species.
Although bananas have been cultivated as a food for up to 10,000 years in tropical areas, Europeans were not aware of the fruit until they started exploring the world during the 1500s. Edible bananas were not introduced to America until 1876 during the Philadelphia World Exposition. Today, there are several hundred cultivars of edible bananas grown around the world. Since the 1960s, only one cultivar has been used to produce the yellow dessert bananas eaten in the U.S.; Musa acuminata 'Cavendish'. The 'Cavendish' banana is a sterile triploid, and produces fruit in the absence of pollination (parthenocarpy). It therefore does not have any seeds. Most edible bananas belong to Musa acuminata or Musa balbisiana (or are hybrids between the two). These hybrids are given the species name Musa 'paradisiaca'.
In addition to the sweet dessert varieties, there are starchy, unsweet cooking bananas that are used in a manner similar to how Americans use potatoes. These cooking bananas are sometimes known as plantains and are commonly boiled, baked, or fried. Musa and Ensete may be eaten in other ways too. The Chinese eat the immature male flower and many cultures use the rhizomes and the stem as food or animal fodder. Bananas may also be dried and eaten as a chip or ground into flour. Bananas are the fourth largest fruit crop in the world behind apples, citrus, and grapes and are a staple food in some parts of the world.
The era of the 'Cavendish' banana may be coming to an end. Over the last few years, a fungal pathogen called Panama disease (Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. cubense) Tropical Race 4 has evolved that attacks and kills 'Cavendish' plants. It has wiped out 'Cavendish' in almost all of Asia. There is no known preventative or cure and it spreads extremely fast. If the fungus ever reaches Central America, the monoculture 'Cavendish' farms that supply the U.S. will be decimated. Ironically it was a different race of the same disease that allowed the 'Cavendish' to become so popular in the first place. 'Cavendish' replaced the sweeter and larger 'Gros Michael' banana in the 1950s which was also wiped out by a race of Panama disease. There is currently no replacement for the 'Cavendish' banana that is tolerant of Panama disease with all of the traits that American consumers demand. The next best choice is a cultivar called 'Goldfinger' which is not as sweet and has a slight tart-apple flavor. However, the best long term solution is not to replace a single monoculture crop with another monoculture crop, but rather to adopt the sustainable practice of growing and eating multiple cultivars of banana.
Bananas also have non-food uses. Ensete and Musa banana stems and leaves are used for their fibers. The coarse fibers are called "manilla hemp" and are used to make paper and rope. The fine fibers are used to make high quality cloth called banana cloth. Banana leaves are waterproof and are often used to wrap food for storage or cooking. The Fehi group of bananas, grown in Polynesia, are used to make a red dye (that will turn your urine red if you eat them). Bananas are used by certain cultures to treat medical disorders such as bronchitis, ulcers, diabetes, hemorrhoids (don't ask me how!), and diarrhea among other things. Central Americans collect the sap of the red banana and take it as an aphrodisiac, although this may be a "phallacy", while the Hindus regard the plant as a symbol of fertility and place the leaves and fruits on the doorstep of newlyweds. In the 1960s it was popular to smoke banana peel for its alleged hallucinogenic affects (what didn't they smoke back then?) but the original newspaper story (The Berkeley Barb, March 1967) that reported this fad was a hoax that fooled the nation.
Bananas are such an important and profitable food crop that the companies that produce them (primarily United Fruit Company, known today as Chiquita and the Standard Fruit Company, known today as Dole) have grown extremely powerful. Their influence on Central American politics has lead to the term "Banana Republic" (coined by the author O. Henry in his 1904 book Cabbages and Kings) which is a pejorative term for a small, unstable, country run by wealthy, corrupt elites who support the exploitation of people and land for cheap banana production by taking bribes and kickbacks from the banana companies.
Banana Taxonomy
Depending on who you ask, the genus Musa contains 42-60 species while Ensete contains 6-8 species. The genus Musella is monotypic (has only one species). Musella lasiocarpa was bounced around between Musa and Ensete before getting its own genus in the 1970s. The taxonomy of the family is poorly resolved due to its worldwide cultivation and hybridization by humans over the last 4000+ years. Only 12 species (with a few dozen cultivars) of Musaceae are cold tolerant enough to be used in temperate gardens. Our choices here in the US are limited, but there are still some beautiful options to choose from.
Banana Morphology
The banana plant (Musa, Musella, and Ensete) looks like a tree but is actually just a large herbaceous perennial. The banana tree "trunk" is more properly called a pseudostem because it does not lignify or undergo secondary growth like woody plants do. The pseudostem is a cylinder of tightly bound leaf petioles that arise directly from an underground stem, or rhizome. The succulent and juicy pseudostem is not very strong, but can support banana "trees" over 25' tall.
Musa and Musella, form offsets freely from the rhizome (suckers) but Ensete almost never forms any. The main pseudostem of bananas is monocarpic (it dies after flowering) after which the next oldest sucker grows to replace it. As a result, bananas tend to move around in the garden a few feet over the course of several years. With most bananas, many pseudostems will grow at the same time and form a colony covering a small area. Gardeners may want to remove all but one or two of the pseudostems in order to preserve the tree-like appearance of the banana plant. Since Ensete plants do not sucker, the whole plant dies after it flowers.
The leaves are the main ornamental feature of the banana plant. The smooth, waxy leaves are generally quite large, reaching up to 6" wide by 2' long on dwarf plants, and up to 2' wide by 9' long on large ones. The leaves are normally a dark green color, but variegation is quite common. Variegation appears as white, red or purple/maroon splotches or sectors on the leaf blade. The leaf midrib may have a contrasting color, which is usually red contrasting with the green leaf. Often, the color of the reverse side of the leaf contrasts with the front side and on windy days viewers are treated to flashes of color. New leaves may open up as one color but gradually turn another color as they age. The leaves, which emerge tightly curled, are arranged in a spiral pattern around the top of the pseudostem. A single pseudostem may have as few as four leaves at a time or have several dozen. In moist, rich soils, a banana will retain more leaves than in a dry, unfertile soil. The older leaves eventually die and dry up into a husk-like form but remain attached to the stem. Some growers prefer to remove the dead leaves in order to maintain a tidy appearance.
Banana flowers are very exotic looking. In temperate gardens some ornamental bananas may not flower because the season is too short. Each species has a set number of months that the pseudostem must grow in order to flower. Musa velutina, the pink velvet banana, is the only species that can die to the ground in winter and flower and fruit the following season, requiring only 20 weeks to complete its life cycle. Musella lasiocarpa takes several seasons to produce a pseudostem large enough to flower, but when it does, the inflorescence lasts several months. Reportedly, from research at the Savannah Georgia Experiment Station, the cultivar Musa 'Vente Cohol' will produce edible fruit as a dieback perennial. Other bananas must retain a pseudostem for more than one growing season in order to flower and produce fruit. In Zone 8, at temperatures of 15 degrees F, Musa basjoo pseudostems will remain viable and subsequently flower the following season. All other bananas must have their pseudostem protected during the winter to fruit the following season.
Technically, banana "flowers" are inflorescences (clusters of flowers on a single structure). A single inflorescence forms on a spike at the top of the plant. Musa and Ensete flower stalks are long and hang down beneath the leaf canopy, but Musella inflorescences are borne on short stalks and face upward. Bananas generally will not flower until there are 9-12 leaves on the pseudostem, so with bananas, size matters. The individual florets are slim and tubular and are subtended by very large, brightly-colored bracts that may be red, purple, orange, or yellow. The inflorescence starts off as a large purple tapered bud. The bud elongates as it opens up, revealing bracts which surround whorls of florets. Banana plants are monoecious meaning separate male and female flowers are produced on the same inflorescence.
The banana fruits are technically a type of berry. The young green fruits resemble green fingers and dangle down in clusters from the top of the plant. All of the bananas on a single stalk are called a "bunch". Each cluster of young bananas (which form at a node on the stalk) is called a "hand" and each banana is a "finger". The number of hands on a flower stalk varies by cultivar. As the fruit matures, it changes color from green to the yellow, red or white. The fruit may even be striped with multiple colors. The size of the fruit varies by cultivar from 2" to 12" long and ¾" to 2" wide. The ripe flesh may be pure white or various shades of yellow. Fertile bananas are filled with 1/8" to 5/8" hard black seeds and do not have very much flesh. Food-type bananas have few or no seeds and are very fleshy. In the wild, ripe bananas will peel themselves to expose the flesh and seeds. Cultivated bananas are usually harvested when they reach full size but are not yet ripe. They are then shipped green and ripened by exposure to ethylene gas when they have reached their destination.
Getting an ornamental banana to produce ripe fruit in a temperate garden is difficult since many cultivars do not naturally produce ripe fruit until after the temperate growing season is over. Edible varieties take one month for the flower to develop and two-four months after that for the fruit to mature. Before freezing temperatures arrive, cut the entire stalk of bananas and move them to a warm place (like a garage). Place the stems in a bucket of water until the fruit mature. In temperate areas with a short growing season, the trick to getting fruit is to start with a plant that has a well-developed pseudostem early in the spring. The way to do this is to protect the pseudostem during the previous winter. See the section on winter care for details.
Banana Cultivation
Plant new bananas well after your average last frost date. Care should be taken not to expose new plants to temperatures below 57°F (14°C) which will greatly delay the growth. Bananas may be safely planted at any time during the growing season until 10 weeks before the average first frost date.
Most bananas prefer full sun, although a few varieties with variegated leaves will need a bit of shade to prevent leaf scorch.
Bananas will grow happily in a wide range of garden soils but will perform best in deep, well-drained, rich soil. Prepare the bed as you would for other ornamental plants... dig a wide hole and amend it with plenty of organic material. Bananas prefer a slightly acid soil with a pH of 5.5 to 6.5. Bananas are very heavy feeders. A good organic fertilizer is recommended, and potassium is very important fruit, so keep plenty of greensand handy. In containers, a well-balanced slow-release fertilizer is perfect.
Bananas are native to tropical areas of the world and are adapted to steady amounts of rain over a long season. Consequently, they generally do not do well in areas with a pronounced dry season of 3 months or more without irrigation. Pronounced drought will retard growth and will result in leaves that burn along the edges. For best results, the general rule of thumb is 1-2" of water per week.
Bananas (even the cold tolerant ones) prefer warm humid temperatures for maximum growth. They grow fastest when the daytime highs are 80°F to 95°F (27°C to 35°C). Growth will slow drastically below 57°F (14°C). The tops of the plants will die back to the ground at the first sign of frost.
Bananas are unusually sensitive to strong winds, and the large leaves are easily damaged by wind or by hail. Wind damage detracts from the beauty of the plant and exposes the sensitive fruit to sunburn. Eventually, the plant will replace damaged leaves. Winds stronger than 30 mph will damage the leaves and winds above 40 mph may cause the pseudostem to break. This will not kill the plant, but it will ruin any chances for flower or fruit. If this happens the best thing to do is to cut the pseudostem below the point of failure. New leaves will emerge from the cut end in just a few days. Staking the plant may help prevent stem topple during storms, but bananas should be protected from high winds by planting them in a site protected by a wind break such as a building or a hedge.
Growing Bananas in Containers
Bananas require a 15 gallon or larger container. Young plants in large containers may need to be watered every 2-4 days, and larger plants need a daily drenching.
Banana growers should re-pot their bananas every 3 years and replace. During the winter, bananas can be brought in as house plants. Bananas grow slowly indoors. Provide plenty of light and humidity, and do not over water. Gardeners may also let their potted plants go dormant by slowly withholding water as the weather cools. Remove the main stem and place the container in a cool dark place such as a garage or crawl-space for the winter. Provide only enough water to prevent the soil from completely drying out. A dormant banana in a container can withstand temperatures into the mid-30s F (3 °C).
Winter Care
The main goal is to protect the pseudostem from cold. There are three techniques for this. First, you can transplant the banana to a pot and move it indoors. Secondly, you can dig the plant, wrap it first in newspaper and then in plastic bags and store it dormant in a cool location (someplace around 45 °F like a garage). Third, you can mulch the plant in the ground. The procedure for this follows:
1. Once freezing temperatures have caused the leaves to collapse, cut off the top of the plant, leaving 3-4' remaining.
2. Construct a cage around the trunk using rebar and concrete reinforcing wire (a sturdier material than chicken wire). Drive the rebar into the ground 2' from the outermost pseudostem to create supports for the wire. Wrap the reinforcing wire around the stakes, forming a cage. Secure the wire to the stakes with zip ties.
3. Fill the cage with shredded leaves. Whole leaves can hold water, and cause the plant to rot. Do not use pine straw, hay, or grass clippings since they don't provide the proper amount of insulation and aeration. Without this protection, the plant will die to the ground and need to begin from the soil line in spring.
4. When new banana leaves start to emerge in spring, remove the cage and spread the shredded leaf mixture around the base of the plant.
Pests and Diseases
Ornamental bananas are generally pest and disease free in temperate gardens, but sometimes grasshoppers, spider mites or boring insects can attack your plant and are best treated with general purpose insecticides or miticides. Bananas grown in areas with a pronounced winter are generally not troubled by the fungal diseases that are rampant in tropical regions. Ornamental bananas may suffer from winter rot if kept too wet during their dormant period.
Banana Propagation
Musa and Musella are easy to propagate from divisions. Collect the suckers that form, taking care to include some roots, then allow the cut surface to dry for a day before re-potting. Leave one or two suckers in the ground to replace your plant in case it dies for some reason. Unfortunately, Ensete almost never produces offsets unless the rhizome is injured.
If you are lucky enough to get ripe fruit, then you can collect the seed, clean off the pulp, soak them in warm water over night and sow them immediately. Seed will germinate in 2 weeks to 6 months depending on cultivar. Keep the seedling out of full sun until the first true leaf has emerged.
Bananas are also easily propagated using tissue-culture.
Banana Species and Cultivars for temperate climates:
Ensete
Ensete is a genus of very ornamental non-offsetting bananas, most of which are only reliably hardy from Zone 8 south. They grow best in full sun.
Ensete glaucum (Snow Banana or Elephant Hip Banana) The snow banana hails from the Himalayas. The 10' tall, thick bluish trunks support the giant bluish green leaves. It produces bananas. The blue cast of the plant makes this a stunning ornamental banana for the garden. (Hardiness Zone 8b-10)
Ensete maurelii (Abyssinian Banana) This banana comes from the mountains of East Africa. Growing to only 10' tall in temperate climates, Ensete maurelii makes a superb ornamental. Each leaf can reach gigantic proportions of 10' long. The foliage is flushed with burgundy-red, especially concentrated as the new growth emerges. The higher the light levels, the stronger the coloration. In Zone 7b, Ensete maurelii overwinters well using the cage method described above. (Hardiness Zone 8-10)
Ensete perrieri (Perrier's Banana) Ensete perrieri is a little known species from Madagascar with a robust, beautifully bluish-waxy pseudostem that is distinctly swollen at the base. The straight, ascending leaves with yellowish midribs are held on very short stalks and form a shuttlecock-like crown. The large maroon flower is held on a short spike at the top of the plant above the foliage. (Hardiness unknown)
Ensete superbum (Cliff Banana) Ensete superbum may reach 12 ft in height with 12' long massive leaves. The short pseudostem has a swollen base of up to 8 ft in circumference at the base. The leaves are bright green in color on both sides with a deeply grooved and short petiole. The fruits are about 3 inches long and more or less triangular with dark brown seeds. The upper parts of the plant die out during a dry season which may give this plant more drought tolerance than other bananas. The native range runs from India into Thailand, where it grows in soil pockets on the steep sides of limestone cliffs, hence the common name. (Hardiness Zone 8b-10)
Musa
Out of the hundreds of species and cultivars, only a few make great garden specimens in a temperate garden. Most Musa species prefer full to part sun, and plenty of water.
Musa basjoo (Japanese Fiber Banana) Musa basjoo is the world's hardiest banana species. It is actually from Sichuan, China and not Japan as most beleive. This 16' to 20' tall running species makes a thick, green stem that sports 6' long, narrow, green leaves arching from the top of the trunk. The flower emerges from near the top of the stem like a yellow-orange torpedo. It produces yellow, 2" long bananas. We recommend a good mulch in colder regions until the clump becomes well-established. There are unsubstantiated reports that Musa basjoo is hardy as far north as Zone 4. If a plant in Zone 4 is heavily mulched and the temperature only drops to -10F instead of -30 (which is a true Zone 4), then it probably will survive, but we think these claims are exaggerations. (Hardiness Zone 7-10, probably colder)
Musa ornata Purple Flower Form (Bronze Banana) This dwarf, fast-multiplying Indian species is prized as a container plant because of its compact, 5-8' tall size, and like Musa velutina, the clump is adorned in late summer and early fall with upright flower spikes of lilac-purple flower buds that peel open in layers, revealing the golden yellow flowers. Reports indicate that it is reliable in Zone 8 and possibly further north. (Hardiness Zone 8-10, guessing)
Musa sikkimensis (Darjeeling Banana, Indian Banana, Sikkim Banana), (syn: Musa hookeri) Musa sikkimensis hails from high montane forests of the northeast Himalayas. Reportedly, the trunks can reach 14' in height (ours tops out at 10' tall) with a diameter of 18". The leaf backs emerge a dazzling cinnamon-red. It produces inedible bananas. (Hardiness Zone 7b - 10)
Musa sikkimensis 'Red Flash' (Red Flash Sikkim Banana) This seed strain of Musa sikkimensis has a maroon mid-rib, maroon sectors on the top of the leaf and a totally maroon reverse side. The leaves are contrasted by the yellow flower. (Hardiness Zone 7b-10)
Musa textilis (Abacá Banana) Musa textilis (often mispelled Musa textilus) is commercially grown in the Philippines for its tough fibers, called manilla hemp, that are used in ropes. It grows to 20' tall in tropics, but our plants have topped out between 8 and 10' tall. Musa textilis has typical long narrow green leaves with a striking purple/mauve flower and the pseudostem has a nice glaucous cast. Musa textilis has survived 8 degrees F with no mulch. (Hardiness Zone 7b-10)
Musa thomsonii (Thompson's Edible Banana) This Himalayan species grows to 15' but our plants have topped out with 12' glaucous grey stems. The new leaves often have a red flush on the reverse side. It has survived 9 degrees F without mulch. (Hardiness Zone 7b-10)
Musa velutina (Pink Velvet Banana) Rarely exceeding 6' tall, Musa velutina produces copious flower stalks near the top of the trunk, starting in late summer. Each stalk is soon home to attractive clusters of small, pink velvet bananas, which peel themselves when ripe. Once established, they seem to be quite winter-hardy. Not all strains of Musa velutina are equally winter hardy, so be sure you purchase from a vendor who knows if their strain is the most winter hardy. (Hardiness Zone 7b-10)
Musa yunnanensis (Yunnan Banana) Musa yunnanensis hails from 8,000' elevation in Yunnan, China and has proven to be an excellent choice for temperate gardens. For us, this giant reaches 16'-20' during the growing season despite being killed to the ground in winter. According to the banana experts, the majority of the plants sold in the US as Musa itinerans are actually this species. Our plants have overwintered at 8 degrees F with no mulch. (Hardiness Zone 7b-10)
Musa Cultivars
Musa 'Ae Ae' (Ae Ae Royal Banana) At one time, ownership of this banana was restricted to Hawaiian royalty, but today availability has increased slightly. Musa 'Ae Ae' is still one of the most highly sought-after bananas for ornamental purposes. Musa 'Ae-Ae' will always remain rare, because this variegation pattern cannot be reliably tissue cultured. While Musa 'Ae-Ae' is not the most hardy banana, we have been able to successfully overwinter it using the caged leaf procedure previously described. Of course, winter storage indoors is always a good option. The 15' tall plants are composed of highly variegated green-and-white sectored leaves. When the plants mature, you'll get a crop of edible variegated bananas as well. (Hardiness Zone 9-10)
Musa 'Bordelon' (Bordelon Banana) This ornamental banana was first discovered in the Zone 8b Louisiana town of Bordelonville (near Alexandria). The 10-15' tall stalks are adorned with red-striped leaves that also feature an attractive red leaf back which is especially visible when the new leaves unfurl. Based on trials around the country, Musa 'Bordelon' appears to be the hardiest of the red-striped varieties. If the growing point is protected in winter, Musa 'Bordelon' will flower and fruit. (Hardiness Zone 8-10, guessing)
Musa 'Darjeeling Giant' (aka: Musa 'Daj giant' Banana) We purchased these seeds from India as a naturally occurring giant hardy hybrid banana from India's Darjeeling Hills region, whose mama was the winter hardy Musa sikkimensis, but whose daddy was unknown. The new growth has a stunning red-purple back, the flowers are dark purple on the outside, and the plants reportedly reach 20' in height. Our plants, installed in 2007 are 12' tall and have survived 7 °F without mulch. (Hardiness Zone 7b-10)
Musa 'Helen's Hybrid' (Helen's Hybrid Banana) This new banana was discovered around 5,000' elevation in the plant rich eastern Himalayan region of Darjeeling, India. Musa 'Helen's Hybrid' is thought to be a cross of Musa sikkimensis and the edible Musa 'Chini-Champa'. The green leaves are occasionally marked with an upper red midrib, but you can consistently count on bright red leaf backs on the new foliage. The fruit is sweet, but seedy. So far our plants have reached 8' tall (on the way to a reported 12' tall) and have survived 9°F (-13°C). (Hardiness Zone 8-10).
Musa 'Ice Cream' (Blue Java Banana) This cultivar is reportedly the best tasting banana available to temperate zone gardeners. The leaves are silver-green in color as is the fruit. The bananas taste like vanilla custard or ice cream. (Hardiness Zone 8-10)
Musa 'Little Prince' PP 15,255 (Little Prince Banana) This Randy Salter introduction occurred as a mutation on the popular Musa 'Novak'. Musa 'Little Prince' makes a stocky, 18' tall bold-texture dwarf with green leaves that are heavily flecked with red (in sun). In colder climates, it can be used as a container plant or bedding plant for the front of the bed. (Hardiness Zone 8b-10)
Musa 'Namwah Dwarf' (Namwah Banana) This edible variety from Thailand has proven to be amazingly winter hardy, sailing though 8 °F without the benefit of mulch. Our two year old plants top out at 8' tall. To get fruit, Musa 'Namwah' will need to be caged during the winter months. (Hardiness Zone 7b-10)
Musa 'Orinoco' (Orinoco Banana) This amazing banana is one of the most cold hardy of the edible fruiting bananas, commonly grown for fruit in the US Gulf Coast region. Musa 'Orinoco' amazes visitors with its nice fruit clusters in our Zone 7 garden. For us, a height of 10' is common, although Musa 'Orinoco' can reach 21' in more hospitable climates. Musa 'Orinoco' requires the pseudostem to remain growing for at least 9 months to produce fruit. (Hardiness Zone 8-10, colder with protection)
Musa 'Siam Ruby' (Siam Ruby Banana) Our research indicates this plant originated in Papua New Guinea as a sport of Musa 'Tapo'. We have never seen it taller than 8'. The leaves are a stunning, dark ruby red with tiny green flecks... the more sun, the more intense the color. This is one banana that loves intense heat and humidity. (Hardiness Zone 9-10, guessing)
Musa 'Truly Tiny' (Truly Tiny Banana) Musa 'Truly Tiny' makes a perfectly formed but shrunken plant with leaves that are nicely blotched in red. It is great for containers. (Hardiness Zone 9-10 at least)
Musella
Musella lasiocarpa (Golden Lotus Banana, Chinese Dwarf Banana) This magnificent ornamental banana is more of a shrub than the typical taller banana. The stiff, thick, leathery, grey-green, banana-like foliage is borne atop a stalk that can eventually reach 6' in height. Instead of being prized for its fruit, this plant is grown more for its flowers. Each specimen is home to large, bizarrely beautiful, yellow flowers that look like giant golden artichokes. Our plants have sailed through over a decade of winters... and without any mulch. (Hardiness Zone 7-10)
Summary
Cold tolerant bananas "foster" a tropical look in the temperate garden with their bold leaves, exotic flowers and colorful fruit. Inspire banana-envy in your neighbors by growing this wonderful tropical plant in your garden. If you grow bananas in a temperate garden, you'll need some patience since they don't really get started growing until the heat of late spring arrives. Once you 'go bananas', you'll never go back
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