lorax

I have grown Cavendish, Dwarf Cavendish, Plantain, Rojitos (local red-skinned fruiting variety), and Rosados (local pink-skinned fruiting variety) in the tropical high-altitude deserts around Loja in southern Ecuador, so it is possible. I had to water them twice daily or they drooped and stopped pupping, and I ended up re-planting a tall male papaya to the middle of my banana ring to give them a bit of shade. Once you get fruit in such a sunny environment, it's almost essential that you bag it on-tree. This means taking a blue plastic bag and hanging it over the forming bunch. This prevents sunburn on the bananas, as well as keeping pests off. I reccomend blue because it's easily available and it's what I use; any plastic bag with about 50% light transmission will do.

If you're going to do this, you will probably want to install a dedicated watering system. I was living out in the sticks and my hoses didn't quite reach all of the plants; this means that I was schlepping pails a lot of the time. How hot do your hot days get in the summer? You will absolutely have to mulch them in for the winters, but Nannas should just love your hot season. Ask Alan, who lives quite a bit north of you, what he does to overwinter his bananas; he's in Zone 3.

Damaclese is growing nanners in Las Vegas; he's a lot closer to you and probably has some great ideas. I'm pretty sure we have members from Arizona, and I know we have Texans. They should all have great tips for dry-summer growing.