I walked out on the porch and looked at the sad looking clump of banana trees by the porch a few minutes ago and mentioned how I needed to cut the dead leaves off of them. This is not a normal spring chore. Normally in the spring I have to cut down the dead stalks so they can grow again but this year the stalks never died, just the leaves turned brown and I had been wondering if the banana trees might bloom this year but I never expected it to be so soon! One of the stalks has a bloom on it and little baby bananas! It seems kind of stupid to be so excited about bananas on a banana tree that isn't edible but I have had these trees for years now and never gotten a bloom.
At one time I was quite captivated by bananas and had several different varieties which I moved in and out of the greenhouse in the hopes of someday producing an actual banana but as the years went by and it never happened and as they took more and more of my time, the hobby got abandoned. This clump of banana trees are all that I have left.
My banana trees are Musa basjoo also known as Hardy Banana which is why this one was planted outside because I knew the roots could survive our winters. Over the years it has been steadily watered by the air conditioner in the window behind it and it has sent out several more stalks to become the clump that it is today. I had been thinking about separating some of the stalks this year but since they never died back, I didn't do it because I didn't want to have to transplant 10 foot stalks.
I'm curious to see if any of the other stalks produce blooms as well. The bananas this bloom should produce lots of seeds, maybe I will plant a few....
OMG! I am so impressed! I was one of the 1000 people that were picked by Baker Creek Heiloom's to grow some seed for their "Grow It Forward" challenge...they send me free seed, I grow it then pass the seed along...well one of the packets is PINK BANANAS! There were only 6 seeds and I planted two to a cell...so far they have not germinated...it's been 3 weeks...so I think my banana's are a bust...so thrilled to see yours!
ReplyDeleteMaybe I will have banana seeds to share later.
DeleteWOW - that's fantastic! You can't eat them?
ReplyDeleteThat is what I have read. Everything I have read says the bananas have very little white pulp in the and lots of seeds.
DeleteThat's fantastic... kinda like my lone artichoke that survived the mild winter and may actually produce an artichoke or two this summer, unheard of in my area!
ReplyDeleteVery impressed-fingers crosed the little bananas will grow and mature-keep us posted!!
ReplyDeleteDo you use the banana leaves to steam food in?
I don't use the banana leaves for anything.
DeleteFrom the enthusiastic way you write about discovering the banana flower I can fully understand the term "Going Bananas"!
ReplyDeleteWow! Cannot wait to see the mature fruit.
ReplyDeleteNever had any idea there was a hardy banana!
Carolyn
Our banana tree fruited once, but before the fruits had a chance to ripen, the darned thing snapped off and then never fruited again. I'm so sad. It keeps growing babies from the base though, which is interesting.
ReplyDeleteHumm, thanks for reminding me that that can happen. I have a friend in Mexico and remember her showing us pictures of how she propped up the banana flower and fruits. I may have to find a way to do that myself.
Deletebanana trees have to be separated to produce f ruit otherwise you will get only one blooms out of all the clumps. and ladies babanas have no seeds, they come out from the main plant and those you have to transplant to get more fruit from each tree
ReplyDeleteIf you read the link in my post you will see that you are mistaken. As I said, I used to be quite a banana collector. There are actually several varieties of bananas that produce seed (they reproduce both ways, seeds and new shoots from the roots). I have started varieties from seed myself.
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