FABULOUS !! But how does he over-winter such large plants??

OOh... my lordly.... How can Mark bring banana tree to indoor or go in the greenhouse for winter time?? Do he have to prune it down or leave it outside and died. Then He bought a new banana trees every year?? LOL... I loved that pics! Kat

Thanks for posting the 2003 photos Boca Joe.
I am still in awe of the 2002 photos that you posted last year.

Last year multiple questions were asked about the winter protection process that this Iowan garden / gardener must take to ensure the ongoing survival of the garden.

I don't believe there was ever an answer to this question.

I do appreciate the photos as do I think everybody else does but I think it might be prudent, if not helpful , to address the winter protection process.

Otherwise I predict an onslaught of pessimism not unlike last year.

So please... fess up and describe the steps that is taken to protect these tender subtropical plants from your Iowan winter.
... that is unless you are in Iowa Jamaica.

we want the scoop.

Hi,

First of all let me say, it's my friend Mark's garden in Iowa, I just took the photos. My tropicals are grown at my house in Maryland.

There is no winter protection- it's all either dug and stored or tossed. Otherwise it would die. Usually we try to save cuttings, rhizomes or corms. All of the foliage is cut off.

Most everything can be stored in a garage or cool basement, 55-60 is ideal, although colder may work too.

The real trick to this whole thing is the water and fert program. Most people don't or won't go the extra step and work required for this. Without it you have so-so, plants, almost dwarfed in size.

These plants ALL have the potential to get gigantic like you see in the photos.

We both buy, swap and trade a lot of plants. These forums here and EBAY are a great source for plants.

It's expensive and it takes time, yeah, but so is Golf, fishing, and collecting just about anything.

The results here are amazing as you can see. We even have a friend in Utah who does an awesome job of growing tropicals in spite of his heat and low (or no) humidity. You can do it anywhere, Start with a few pots or a small bed. Amend the soil in the beds , it can;t be too rich or organic.

I plan to write a book and have been collecting information on creating a backyard paradise anywhere.

You can see my results on the link below. I do almost everything in pots, and have about 1/10 of what Mark has, but get the same results, just on a smaller scale.

Another "secret" , just experiment and do it! There are gonna be successes and failures. Best advice I can give - just do it!!

good luck and enjoy!

Boca Joe

Here is a link that might be useful: Boca Joe's Tropicals

Boca Joe,
Thanks for the response.

What does your fertilizer program consist of ?

Mucho gracias.

michelle

here's what I have done from late May till Sept--

once every 7-10 days
in a 2 gallon watering can, I mix 2 TBSP Peters powder 20-20-20, 1 TBSP urea, and 2 TBSP UPSTART (Ortho or similar). and one or 2 TBSP of EPSOM SALTS to 2 gallons of water. I then do about 6-10 pots or specimen plants with each batch dumping some of the mix around the base.

2 -3 times per week
In between I use the hose end sprayer with the Peters or Miracle Gro mix (with the hose end sprayer that you just dump in the whole little bag of powder and spray away. I follow all of these with a light "watering in" spray - the leaves are all dark green and the plants are loving it growing like crazy and the heat!

2 times this season
I also use the MIRACLE GRO tree spikes for CITRUS /FRUIT TREES -Ibreak each spike in half and put the 2 halves around the base of the plants in the ground and the ones in pots. I did this twice so far.

Oh yeah, I also dumped milorganite around each plant potted and in ground, plus handful of 10-10-10 back in June.

Hey.. I still cannot believe you guys dug and stored or tossed them indoor for winter. Because I believe it would be sooo HEAVY! Hmmm.. How do you stored them with what???

I am so exciting for you plan to write a book! Please let me know when you done with your book.

Kat

Holy Bananas Batman !

Wowza - that's enough fertilizer to blow up an arboretum !

( friendly laughter )

Thanks for passing along your recipe for a floriferous bounty.
That was generous of you.

Good thing you have that garden to stand as your testament to your fertilizing purchasing power..... otherwise you might be on the HomeLand Security Watch List !

Boca Joe is armed and dangerous ! - I hope you don't have any Venus Fly traps growing around your house.... could prove to be fatal to small children.
(wink wink )
: ~ )

Hi, Joe,
Congratulations to you and coopmon for another wonderful set of photos of your magnificent specimins! Thanks for sharing with us your fertilizer program. I have some comments.
20-20-20 fertilizer= Nitrogen-Phosphorus-potassium
-The urea is probably a good choice for a high nitogen fertilizer for rapid vegetation growth. Probably a good choice especially in pot culture since urea is the form of nitrogen with lowest salt content. We don't want salt buildup in the pots, do we?

-From what I've gathered at other sources, banana and taro recommendations are for high potassium fertilizers, however, yours all seem to do well with a lower potassium analysis. Potassium is also known for 'pushing' root growth. Have you tried 'pushing' either of those specific plants with higher K fertilizer?
Any comments on what might be the result?

-You are using epsom salts(magnesium sulphate). What was your intent in using the epsom salts? Ever consider calcium?

-The 'Upstart' fertilizer you are using is a high phosphorus type fertilizer. From some sources I've read that would be especially good at the beginning of the season
because phosphorus is not as available in cool weather and to plants without an extensive root system. It is commonly used as a 'starter' fertilizer for transplanting.

Just two questions:
-What type of potting soil are you using? I've wondered if a banana would have a problem with blowing over if a standard potting mix is used, ever have trouble with that?
I'm planning to cast some concrete tubs if it's a problem.
-Have you ever seen any damage you could atribute to over-fertilization, and would even MORE fertilizer help?

Hope you get a chance to respond as I'm really curious of your thoughts on this. I'll be happy to let you in on anything I learn this next season.

Jay Reynolds

Hi Jay,

thanks for your comments.
I usually use PROMIX or whatever similiar I can get for a good price. Home Depot usually carries it in the compressed bale for about $9.99.

I tend to use very big pots, most people pot up too small. I use the plain black nursery pots for the biggest stuff (my cannas and bananas). They work out perfectly because they have FLAT bottoms as opposed to decorative (and expensive) pots- usually smaller.

This past summer, NONE of the pots blew over in any storms, except for one pot with a 12' high red abyssinian banana in one killer storm with winds over 70mph- I just set the pot back up.

Most of the pots are on my deck on down the 9 front steps and exposed to the winds.

I found some really nice nursery pots ( they are the pots that the big trees come in) at HOME DEPOT in their "throw away" pile ;-) for free.

I plant so much in the pots that you never even notice that they are black plastic.

Oh BTW, I the 2 red abyssinian bananas by the front door were in 32" plastic pots. They blew over in the one big storm but that's it. I set them upright and you couldn;t tell. Again they were almost 10' high at the time. BUt they also had the tapered bottoms typical of the average pots.

Idid have some extensive burn in 2002, I used mayyyy too much UREA in my mix ( I threw it down about the plants in a handful!!) and the edges of t he leaves burned up and the old leaves got fried, bu that's was it.

I have had so much success with my mix, Ihate to change it. But I may tweak it a bit with your suggesstions. I never had any problem with the UPSTARTsince it's not really a fert- it 's a ROOT stimulant-

hope that helps.

Please email me directly for more details. I'd like t fiind out more about what you are growing.

Boca Joe

Sticking my toes into the water here - hoping that you all can help me! I am in the snow belt and we get a lot of lake effect snow so I would have to bring everything indoors for the winter.

Please tell me how to care for bananas in the winter. Someone told me that you can bring them in to go dormant and I see that here - they also said to cut them down before bringing them in. Could you PLEASE help me with this? I would appreciate anything you can tell me that works for you.

I have been offered Orinoco and Blood Banana - do you grow these and bring them in? Where can I get pups for next year and r can I trade with someone for tropical looking plants? Some people have offered me seeds from the castor beans (yesssss!) so I am on my way.

Another friend is a composter and I can get tons of wonderful compost from him to plant into - what do you think of that? My Amish friends overplant their gardens with oats in fall, plow that under for nitrogen, add barn litter and of course natural fertilizer, plow that all under and you ought to see their plants pop out of the ground! I gave one a 8" brugmansia cutting in early May and in early Sept it was gigantic and loaded with blooms! It was approx 7 feet tall and 5 feet wide and had upwards of 200 blooms when I saw it - I had a perfect envy attack! She said it had been blooming in flushes since mid-June! :::sigh:::

Any comments and help will be gratefully accepted!
Cheers - Rita

Here is a link that might be useful: Magic Kiwi Galleries

Rita,

Get all of the compost you can get your hands on- you can never have too much compost in the beds!

EBAY and the Garden Forums are great places to get plants.

Yes I grow both of those bananas you mentioned and bring them in for the winter.

Most people make the mistake of thinking you need to bring in the whole plant- NO! I cut mine down to about a foot or two after the first few frosts, and then dig them,, shaking off some of the soil , but NOT washing them off. I store mine dry in the basement in cardboard boxesor paper bags until March when I start them up again. I still have 5 or 6 banana corms outside now that still need to come in.

The trick as I have said b4 is the water and fert next summer- push push push!

I get a lot of stuff at HOME DEPOT too..

good luck

Boca Joe

BRAVO!!!
Boomchuckchuck

wondering how things are looking this spring, Joe.

Ah, I just spent a little tropical vacation looking at your friends pics. Thanks Joe!

Rebecca

Jay, Joe posted an update under the Tropical Plants section. Check it out!

Hey Boca Joe,

Just wanted to say you inspired me last year with your pics of all your tropicals. I moved to CT a little over 3 years ago from Florida. I did bring my orchid collection up from Florida and we put in a small greenhouse to keep them but I really missed the Tropicalness (is that a word) of Florida. I even had a business called Tropical Impressions, selling Tropical artwork at art shows. Unfortunately, there is not much interest in Tropical Art in Connecticut, so I had to get a real job!

So last year when I saw your post, I said "why not, I can have Tropicals in Connecticut".

Since then I have been creating my own Tropical Paradise. Last year we added another 4 feet to the greenhouse (now 9' x 12'). I now have my original Orchids, plus Cannas, Bannanas, Gingers, Heliconias, Anthuriums, Alocasias, Colocasias, Bromeliads, Passionflower, Brugsmania, Moonflowers, Coleus, Ficus, Palms, Jasmine, and lots more.

I am not putting in a pond and want to make it very Tropicalesque with Louts, Taro, Bamboo, Canna, Waterlilies, etc.

Yes, it is so much more work than growing Tropicals in Florida, but anything worth have is worth working hard at. So I just wanted to say thanks for sharing your knowledge and enthusiasm.

Cherie

Can't you find Louts pretty much anywhere you go? (;)?)

Looks great!

How do you keep the Christmas Tree palm alive?