This clump of Musa mannii has been in Anniston, AL for many years, but never flowered until last year. It is the earliest-returning banana there, coming back in
February! It has been extremely dry in Anniston this year, probably the hardest-hit city in the entire Southeast from the drought this year. They are over 26 inches of rain below normal (hard for me to contemplate that!), having only received about 14.5 inches for the whole year. So the growth on the bananas at the museum, even though they have been irrigated, has not been very good this year. Even so, Musa mannii is getting set to flower:
The entire mat:
