Go to http://www.bambooworld.com/ they have musa basjoo. I don't think they start to ship until May that the only bad thing. Another Web site which is closer to us for Toronto and Area is http://www.tropicalguild.com/Guildwood_Cannas/contact.htm They do ship at the beginning of April so better with this site

Give this a look see, www.tropic.ca I've been very satisfied with the service and price. Rai

Edbtz,

I bought my from Humber nurseries in 2004 and you are right they are very expensive. However, you do not need to buy a large pot. I bought the 3" pot (I think I paid $25)and it took off and grew to 6ft that season. I now have over 10 plants. Atleast I didn't have to pay for shipping. However, I doubt that I will ever pay over $100 for a small Sable Minor that they carry. Now that's over priced.

Tropicalintoronto,

I went to Humber nurseries last week and the cheapest one they had was 100 dollars and it did not look healthy. Online sites are cautious about shipping now due to the cold weather. I tried ordering from an American online site and they would not ship to Canada. Might you be interested in selling two of your plants? Have you had success in keeping them outside in the ground over winter?

edbtz,

Obviously right now they are under protection and I won't know till April how they fared over the winter. I think this year I might have gone overboard with the protection considering how warm its been. I've alreday promised to give a couple away however if all survived I might have a few extra. I will definately keep you in mind. By the way what area of Toronto do you live in?

Ed:
I don't know about right now, but in the spring, you should be able to find some at Holland Garden Gallery.

I bought a total of 3 from them at $29.95 each CAN$.

The first one was only about 2.5 feet tall. It's now over 10 feet tall!!!

The other 2 are nearly as big.

Now we have 5 since I was able to successfully pull 2 pups off. I guess that I could have taken more, but there's a space issue here now! LOL

Like anywhere, of course, you have to know what to look for and pick the right ones. Don't expect them to know too much about banana plants. To them, one is the same as any other.

But their prices are good.

Here's more info on them:

HollandPark.com

Burlington, Ontario
2243 Fairview St.
L7R 2E1
Tel: (905) 639-7740 Tel:
Fax: (905) 639-8656 Fax:

Hope that helps.

As Coolcap1973 mentioned Guildwood is located in Maple Ont and does arrange to have orders picked-up to save on shipping cost.

Here is a link that might be useful: Guildwood Site

Thank you for all the wonderfull sources. I actually called Guildwood and have arranged for a pick up in April. They sell each plant for 15 dollars, which I believe to be very reasonable. TropicalinToronto, I live in Markham. Just moved there from Windsor and am missing the differences in temperature...lol. Have you found the bananas from Guildwood to be of good quality?

Blondboy,

Thanks for your response. How do you successfully pull pups off and grow them as separate plants? I am sorry if this sounds like an unsophisticated question.

Sorry for the delay in answering. I completely forgot about this thread.

No, it's not an unsophisticated question at all. We all learn things as required.

In my case, I think I got lucky. Our Musas are in large pots and the pups grew out of the edge, right at the rim.

Due to that, it was very easy to cut.

What I did was use a very long and sharp, serrated edged knife.

With my hand, I gently moved the soil from around the pup and followed its connection to the main plant and uncovered all of that too.

When I saw where it was connected to the main plant, I cut it right there, right at the stem of the main plant.

Then, I gently started to pull the pup out, moving soil as necessary to keep all its roots intact.

That's it! I planted the pups into their own pots with a mix I make that is the same as the soil that the mother plant lives in.

I checked the pups this weekend past and they are doing very well. One is larger than the other and it's putting on new leaves quickly. It's going to be a biggie this summer, I just know it.

If I work up the nerve to do so, I want to plant 1 or 2 right in the ground in an area that has its own little micro climate. It's the first place where snow melts, when we have snow. No snow this winter.... well, we had some in December, but nothing since that stayed.

Good luck on your banana plants. :)

Tropical in Toronto, thanks for that link. It's going into my faves! :D

NOTE: IF ANYONE FROM http://www.guildwoodcannas.com/
IS MONITORING GARDEN WEB,

you should be aware that you may be missing lots of business due to your email server returning mail failures, claiming

"The user does not accept email in non-Western (non-Latin) character sets."

I see no reason for this email as we use Lotus Notes and it sends standard text.

Your filters may be filtering incorrectly and thereby, eliminating valueable customers.

I'm going to try to send later on via my yahoo account and see what happens.

I wish I could remember the name of the nursery, but there's a place about 10 minutes down the road on highway7 from Humber Nurseries that have Basjoos for only about 20-30 bucks and some are bigger than Humber's with pups. I'll try and get the name for you. I bought one last year and it grew 5 pups by summer!

The Nursery I was thinking of is called Angelos Garden Centre (hwy 7 and Dufferin area), and its about 10-15 minute drive from Humber Nursuries area. I know you've already gonew with Guildwood, but this is a suggestion for anyone else in the area looking for somewhere with Basjoos. Their banana plants are in the main greenhouse and just ask at the front counter to go and see them.

I also wanted to say that its nice to see so many Canadians growing such an exotic place in such a cold part of the world in winter :) Althought we've been fairly lucky so far, I don't want to speak too soon since I already see snow coming down this evening.

Thank you for to everyone for posting replies to my orginal message. I am eager to pick mine up in April. I ended up ordering three since they were so cheap. Its funny, I drove by Angelo's nursery and did not think they would have any so I drove right by (as it was on my way to Markham).

Well I'm glad to see that this thread is still going. As with Blondboy I forgot about it.
In regards to removing pups from the mother corm, I simply put a shovel right between the main stalk and the pup. It was that simple. Now I would wait till the pup grows to about 12" before I tried that. The pups need enough of their roots to survive.
Blue265 thanks for the info in Angelo's I would never have thought to walk in there for banana plants.

All we need now is a local source for some hardy palms!

Holland Park

they will do special orders for you(they did for me), speak with Connie (sp?) she will will bring most of the stuff for you Zebrinas, Maurelli, etc. Specify if you want to be grown outside or under shade cloth, if you want to plant it outside or respectivly keep it as an indoor banana.

Lucian

Guys, I just bought three almost 1 foot sized bananas today at Home Depot at Dundas and Mavis in Mississauga

3.99 each.

Alek f,

I do not believe the banana that you purchased at Home Depot is a musa basjoo. It is a banana plant and I am not sure what kind. I have seen them in literally every Home Depot, although unfortunately it is not of a type that would likely survive our winters, rather it is an indoor plant. At that price though I suppose you can try it, but I think your efforts would be futile. Your best bet is a musa if you want to plant it outside.

alex f

I believe the plants that you bought at home depot came from Colasanti's Wholesale. Unfortunately, they do not say what variety they are. Are these the plants you bought?
{{gwi:403958}}

Below, is a link to their website.

Phil

Here is a link that might be useful: Colasanti Wholesale

Sorry for the original image. This should be clearer.

{{gwi:403959}}

Joining this one late...does anyone have the tel number for Angelo's Garden Centre. By the way--do these Basjoo bananas taste any good?? Does anyone in Toronto or thereabouts have a pup they want to sell??

Thanks alot,

Ravi

If you could please e-mail me--I don't track these posts very well. My e-mail is rpersadc396@rogers.com

I buy my Banana's from "Bamboo World" which isn't far from where I live ( Chilliwack, British Columbia ) and they have wonderful plants!!! I would suggest you get them there. Their prices are really reasonable too!!! If you have a Zeller's store where you are, they have them too. They are asking $20.00 and they are big plants.They only sell Musa Basjoo's. Diana55

http://www.corollatropicals.ca/

I ordered from here and they were a great size and very healthy. 14.99 and 9 for shipping

Yes, "Corolla Tropicals" is a good one too!!! I have bought from them also. Diana55