Hardy Banana
2006.09.23
I went to Marbott’s Nursery on Columbia Boulevard today and picked up a five-gallon Japanese Fiber Banana (Musa basjoo). “A banana, in Oregon?” you say. They are native to the Ryukyu islands (aka Nansei-shoto), a chain scattered between the main Japanese islands and Taiwan. Apparently in Okinawan, Ryukyu is pronounced “Luchu”. They are surprisingly hardy in temperate gardens, surviving temperatures below freezing, especially with some winter protection, but once established, even without such precautions. At maturity, it will reach 15–20 feet, with six-foot-long leaves. Similar to clumping bamboo, the plant will produce numerous suckers (pups) around the base. Each mature trunk will flower in the third or fourth year (producing non-edible bananas about three inches long) and then slowly die. As the pups grow, they replace the dying mature trunks.
According to sources online, a one-gallon plant will grow to about five feet the first year, and then by the end of the second year you’ll have a large clump reaching ten feet. Since I started with a five-gallon plant that is about four feet tall or so, it will probably reach ten feet next summer.
2006.09.30
The banana has only been in the ground a few days, but already two leaves have wilted, yet a new leaf is rising out of the top and starting to unfurl.
2006.10.12
New leaf is unfurling a little more. The first photo is from three days ago.
2006.10.18
Tada…
2006.11.18
Around Halloween we had an early frost during the night, and the next morning the banana leaves had all drooped down and turned brown. I figured it was done for the year, but today I noticed it is still trying to put up a new leaf. With freezing temperatures predicted in a couple or three days, possibly even some snow, this new leaf isn’t going to make it.
More Plants