chong

Welcome Smiley,
Josh is correct about the CA Gold banana. I am one of the lucky ones who has one and can attest to their cold hardiness in Seattle weather. M. Basjoo is also cold hardy, possibly more so than CA Gold. The fruit it bears is seeded, and diehard fans of this plant swear that they are edible and sweet, albeit that you have to contend with double-0 shot sized seeds that are almost as hard. In any case, in your area, you will need to afford them some winter protection, or overwinter them inside. You will find lots of threads here dealing with overwintering of bananas.

If you are interested in edible fruits, the one I can suggest is the Dwarf Orinoco. It is listed as a dessert banana, but to eat it out of hand, the fruit has to be very ripe, almost black. The Saba is also that way. Though the Saba is a lot bigger and stouter plant, and possibly a half or a full zone less hardy than the D. Orinoco. Both of them are excellent cooking bananas.

The D. Orinocos, I have, came from Agristarts. Because of the cool climate here in Seattle, they do not grow fast enough in the summer that after 5 years, they are only a foot high. But they've survived some very low temperatures (single digits) here in unheated greenhouse. I intend to leave some of them in the greenhouse to compare with the ones outside and see which ones grow faster.

A final caveat regarding the D. Orinoco, according to one nursery, Encanto Farms I believe, the CA Gold is NOT a mutation of D. Orinoco. Rather, it IS a form of D. Orinoco that developed a particular resistance to cold. Another similar plant is TX Star, which is only available from Ty Ty Nursery in GA. Although I've not had any problems with my orders from TTN, there are a lot of complaints from a lot of people on the internet. They are on the eccentric side. TX Star, too, may be a form of D. Orinoco. D. Orinoco is very easy to find.

Good luck and enjoy!!

Chong