I am on my second year with bananas and here is a pic of one that was just recently given to me. Don't know the name of it but this one is a baby off of a much larger plant. It has taken the transplant quite well so I thinking it will put on a good show next year.

BTW this is a great idea - I LOVE looking at everyones gardens

small palms

California fan palm, still trying to find a place to put it. 4 inchs of trunk.

Still have alot of landscaping to do.

Bowl of bananas, my 12 nana got storm damage, its in recovery.

Spindle palms

Queen palm and triangle palm

Looking up at my big banana

Jungle

Orchids, blooms every year about this time. 8 big yellow flowers, just beautiful.

Dont you just love summer time?

Rob

The bananas along the driveway are all basjoos. Almost all of them originate from one plant that I have continuously cut pups off over the years. They're probably around 15ft (from ground to highest leaf), but I've never measured them. I've had two bloom so far. They're about 4 years old.

All of the other bananas are mixtures of Sikkimensis, Red Abysinnian, Ice Cream, Praying Hands, Bordelon, Brazilian, Chinese Yellow, Thomsonii, Kandrian, and probably a few I'm forgetting...

I wrap all the bananas in black fleece for the winter. However, the only ones that survive without dying to the ground each year are the basjoo and Sikkimensis. All other have to start over each year.

Everything will get exponentially bigger by September, so I'll retake pictures then.

orchiddude - I like the palms.

jeff-n-jessa 4 - Do you know what kind of banana that is. I like the deep dark green and wide leaves.

I've also got ginger and dahlias that aren't growing either.... can't figure it out.

Oh, to answer the question about the trellace, I put Hardy Kiwi on there because I heard it grew fast. It has barely grown at all. I have another vine on another trellace that you can almost watch grow. I should have used more of that.

BTW, does anyone have a very rough estimate as to how large a dwarf orinoco will get before it starts to send up the flag leaf for flowering?

Here are the bananas now. The one on the far is the same plant as in the picture above. I estimate the tip of the tallest leaf is about 9 feet tall.

Now that you are well into this year's growing season, do you feel that the banana plants growing from the pseudostems that were successfully over-wintered are larger and better off?

Also, I see little leaf shredding on your Basjoos as a result of the wind. What position in the garden are they planted?

Thanks
Phil

Do you think I can overwinter my two new banana plants on a covered deck if I wrap them with something?

Since they are small will they keep growing in the house in bright light over the winter?

d

Second question, the bananas are in south end of my property.

Apple, and our squirrel secuirty system

Porkpi, I really like your banana allee, and the way it frames your boat. Nothing like strolling through the bananas on the way!

I had Musella lasiocarpa bloom for the first time this year. My largest one even had two at the same time!! Here it is from May 29......

I've also added a couple pictures of a blooming Musa Ornata. The lizard on the leaf is one (or a baby of one) that I released in my yard a couple Springs ago. I'm sure people from the South will find that amusing since they're as plentiful as spiders down there.

There are probably a lot of pictures of no interest to people here. They're mostly of a bamboo fence that I built last Winter. That was actually for posting to another website.

Thanks everyone for posting their pictures. I've enjoyed them all.

Frank

It appears that Orinco is one - are there other varieties that would produce in my zone?

Thanks a bunch.......John

In my opinion, the first year of overwintering is the hardest, but if you can get them to survive in tact for one year, they'll be so big the next that it's easy to get them to survive the next, and the next and the next.

When I started out, I used to build cages around every banana, fill them with straw, wrap the cage with shrink wrap, and then use a potted plant tray to cover the top of the cage so that no water could get it. I have lost more bananas to rot than cold weather.

I also put some straw around the base of the cage to keep the ground warm, although I don't know if that actually did any good.

After they survived one year, they grew so big the next year, and the next, and the next, that I now simply cut off the leaves and wrap them in a couple layers of black fleece. The black gets warm and the fleece seems to stay dry. I leave the top few inches exposed so that the plants can grow in the early warm days of spring. I didn't lose any basjoos or sikkimensis to freeze or rot last year. I did lose a couple of less-hardy bananas though

I have a lot of work to do this Fall, but I think it's worth it! That's the only way I can have fruit in my Zone 7,is to dig them up, cut off leaves and put the root ball in a plastic Wal-Mart Bag and then replant them in April. Mine made it through last Winter fine, in an unheated Bldg.!! I have a Freezer and a Refrigerator in my Bldg. so maybe they put off a little heat. It does not have to be dark for the Plants to go Dormant, my went Dormant last Winter, I think the Temperature has more to do with it than the light? Hope this helps some of y'all !!

Good Luck to Everyone,
Frank

This is a great thread... there are some very nice plants.

another

and another

Thanks so much for the help.........John

Here's my musa 'Royal Purple' that is just starting to bloom:

Thanks a bunch......John

They make space heaters that will come on only if it gets below 32 Degrees!! I bought mine at either Home Depot or Lowes. Hope this helps!!

Good Luck,

Frank

Ladyfinger

Pitigo

Musa Velutina

Dwarf Red

Musa Zebrina

Over 1,000 more photos in the gallery at bananas.org