Tell us more. How did you cover it? Did you do anything else to protect it (add mulch, etc)?

I have a couple of different banana species growing year-round outside. I don't do anything special for the Musa basjoo. It's completely hardy here. I did cover my new Musa velutina. I also encased it in pine straw for a little insulation. I'm hoping that once it becomes well established, I might not have to do anything to protect it during winter.

My daughter threw out an old bed padding. I cut it up and wrapped the trunk up about 2ft then covered it with mulch frabric to keep out the rain. I took it off and had about 10 inches of trunk left and the center was already starting to grow.

Sounds like you really "put it to bed" in style.

Eventually, I want to find a few more species that can survive outside here, but I'm not willing to wrap mine up each year. If they can't survive on their own (with maybe a few years of pampering at first), they just aren't for me.