Now that was Sweet ;-)

Maybe I could just move to his house!!!!LOL Or GH!!!!
Chena

WOW! Id like to know what he`s feeding them! LOL

Yes, what is he feeding them! Really awesome pictures. The bananas and - alocasia or colocasias? - are as spectacular as the brugs!

Wow! The brugs are spectacular but those alocasias are amazing! Are those BOP's behind the brugs?
Karyn

All, I don't think he feeds them anything special. Karyn, he did have a large white BOP but I don't think it's evident in any of these photos. He had numerous varieties of bananas, including lots of green and red Abyssinians, which do not pup. He always keeps smaller ones in pots ready to go out next year, because eventually they get too large to move in the greenhouse!

The elephant ears were amazing:

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Here's a 'starter' Abyssinian for next season.
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A starter brug to go in the ground next season.
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Dave I might have to get his address from you and take a drive by his house before it gets cold. Those plants are really amazing. It looks like a tropical paradise in the middle of the DC suburbs.
Karyn

Karyn, I swear, from the wrap-around porch you couldn't see the road because of all the bananas, brugs, castor beans, hibiscus, etc. It was like being at some resort in Key West or Hawaii. I might be able to get the address for you. We caravaned there but I don't think I could find the place again. Really back into a neighborhood.

Various bananas were fruiting:
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Castor beans are huge:
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Owner/gardener points out the diameter of Castor bean stalks! They were like bamboo.
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I am just aghast. That is absolutely amazing. I agree with Chena - I'll move into his greenhouse! (grin)

Wow - the size of those castors - mine only hit 7' - wow.

His plants are amazing, simply breath taking. "Starter" abysinnian. . it's huge! (grin)

Are his elephant ears in pots? For the greenhouse?

Greenhouse or not that guy is doing something special. I haven't seen tropical plants that nice in the tropics! lol
Karyn

As for the Elephant Ears, he has several varieties. Two are in-ground in the greenhouse. I think he takes pups off them to plant around the yard. One EE that was planted beneath the front porch has got to be 10 feet tall! It's in the photo with us on the deck. I'm hanging onto the leaf stalk. The ground is about 4 feet below the deck floor.

One of our touring party holds up a double white brug:
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Overview of backyard. The owner is a house builder and built his own house. Very open floorplan with lots of windows, views and large deck -- all covered with various tropicals/sub-tropicals, including grapefruit, Valencia and calamondin citrus, ficus, draceanas, etc. I'd never leave home! Why take a vacation?

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That's what I was wondering about that massive EE in the pic.

Karyn - yep - he's got a magic touch alright. Something to strive for. Just amazing. . .

Zonal envy - but moreso, in awe of his talent. Some people just "have it." The proverbial "green thumb."

Wow. . . .

Dave - you're right. Why leave? He's created a paradise right in his own back yard!

Beautiful home. Thank you for sharing the pictures. Even though I couldn't see it in person, the pictures have really brightened my day.

Thank you very much.

Techno...this is all in zone 7a!

Simply amazing, I have never seen a Castor Bean that big in my life.....................would love to have a couple seeds off of that one.

Georgia (LOL!), I think they are just plain old castor beans. He does supplement the soil with sheep manure occasionally, I think he said. And waters maybe once a week, mostly in the front side of the house, which faces West. By mid-summer all ground is shaded by vegetation and doesn't dry out quite so quickly. He uses well-rotted leaf compost in his pots. When the pot plants get planted in the ground each year, the soil eventually gets real rich and soft.

Sheep manure..............it figures, something I will never find here in the city. LOL Whatever he is doing, he's doing it right!

Well, if he can get it in Washington, DC, I'm sure you could find some in Georgia...LOL!

Sheep manure umm... A friend who lives a few blocks away raises sheep. I guess I should be getting more then lamb chops from her. lol I wonder how long the sheep poop needs to age before you can use it? Jim can you answer that?
Karyn

georgia_on_my_mind and Karyn, try finding 'Zanzibarensis Ricinus' Castor Bean seeds, they are a mammoth variety ..... then plant them near a Brug or feed them like a Brug. I had one here a few years ago that I would swear was the 'bean plant' in the Jack in the Bean stalk nursery rhyme and even in my zone it grew to the height of the small bathroom window on the second story on my house. ( likely about 15' tall).

This is where I got mine from:
Ricinus Castor Bean Zanzibariensis
and yes, we needed a saw or an axe to chop down the plant at the end of the season.

Dave, do you have any more pictures or was that all? Would love to see more.

Thanks Ruth!

Thanks Ruth ann. Mine only got to be about 8-10'. I'd love a giant.
Karyn

GOTTA BE THE WATER!!! LOL. Holy Moley. Don't think it's ALL in the sheep manure!! The size of all the plants regardless of species is fantastic. Would seriously like to know his "feeding" routine. Thanks for sharing these pix. Really something to strive for. Gloria

He does not need to cut his plants back -- any of them - bananas, brugs, whatever -- because of the size of his greenhouse. He says he brings the bananas in horizontally before setting them upright in the GH. So, plants are huge before they even go in the ground.

Glad you all enjoyed the photos!

Dave do you know how he heats his GH?
Karyn

He has a gas heater in the corner, and uses fans to even out the heat. He keeps it in upper 30s to low 40s or so in the coldest part of the year. He says he 'just keeps them from freezing to death'.