One of the most rewarding plant purchases that's I've made over the years was my hardy banana plant from a few years back. It was just a tiny little stick when it arrived in the mail but it really took off ever since. Musa Basjoo is a non fruiting banana so Chiquita and Dole will still be my official banana suppliers for the foreseeable future but I bought the Basjoo because it's cold tolerant enough to survive a New Jersey winter.
It's also really interesting looking and grows pretty tall. And who doesn't like having big tall plants, especially tropical looking ones? Not only did that original Musa Basjoo grow up to be a strong healthy banana at about 12 feet tall, but it's also had pups every year since I've planted it. So now I have 9 of them.
All banana plants are heavy feeders and need lots of fertilizer to grow big and strong. And since I'm a huge fan of organic gardening and the benefits of compost, it's a match made in heaven. I feed them plenty of fresh compost and they grow tall and have babies for me. Good deal. An occasional helping of fish tank water helps out too. The fish tank water is another great organic fertilizing option.
And even though they're hardy to Zone 6, I don't force them to prove it to me. Each winter, I dig them out of the ground and wrap the stems in wads of newspapers for storage in my garage. I usually just drag the one in the giant twenty two inch diameter flower pot in there too but this year it's a bit too tall. But I'll figure something out by the time the temps start dropping.
So sure I could sit here and wallow in pity that I'm unable to grow bananas in my Zone 6 climate. Instead I'm going to celebrate the fact that I have bunch of huge banana trees in my yard that will never produce a single banana, ever. And that's awesome!
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