Hardy Banana Plant
Profile
The Hardy Banana
Tree (Musa basjoo) gives a tropical
look to temperate landscapes and is a fun
conversation piece in the garden. It is also known as the Japanese Banana or
the Hardy Fiber Banana. It is, in fact, not a tree at all, but one of the
world’s largest herbaceous perennials.
The Hardy Banana can grow in USDA Zones 4 to 10 and is
native to Sichuan, China. This plant will produce lots of dramatic leafy growth
and if the season is long enough, you will get creamy-yellow flowers that then
form small, inedible fruits.
The plant can reach 12 to 18 feet in height. After it
flowers, the main pseudostem will die and then send out baby shoots around the
mother plant that can be lifted and replanted or gifted to other gardeners.
It prefers full sun, moist soil, and plenty of fertilizer to
support the tremendous amount of growth it puts out in one season.
The giant leaves of the Hardy Bamboo can get shredded in
high winds. If you find the shredding unattractive, site the plant where it
will receive some wind protection.
Hardy Banana is perfectly hardy planted in the ground. It
will die back when hit by a killing frost in late autumn. When that happens,
cut the plant down to one foot high, surround it with a chicken wire cage or netting,
and then pile on hay or leaves or other insulating mulch materials around the
plant’s crown.
Here, in the Mid-Atlantic US, many gardeners don’t bother
doing the cut back and mulching. They simply let the fallen foliage act as a
crown insulator and then clear some of that out as the growing season begins
the next spring.
Hardy Banana You
Can Grow That!
The
video was produced by Washington Gardener Magazine as part of our Plant
Profile series for Mid-Atlantic USA gardeners.
Audio and text by Kathy Jentz
Video and editing by Christine
Folivi
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