Hello all, Frank from Nashville here (fglavin on Gardenweb). I wanted to post a few picture here of some variegated bananas at a nursery here in Nashville, TN. The name of the nursery is Blooms Nursery and Landscaping. He has several nice Ae Aes also. He also has lots of other variegated goodies there, including alocasia, monstera, shefflera, philodendron, yuccas, etc.
First up is a small, variegated high color mini. The last two leaves are spectacular, with the red being VERY blood red in sections. The white variegation seems to be holding up too, although isn't that bright of a white on the last two leaves. Still, a beautiful plant, and my favorite of the bunch!
Next up is a very small variegated dwarf orinoco, still holding up.
This is a variegated dwarf cavendish, and not a very good picture. Very hot day, and the leaves were folded up a bit. Still, a neat banana!
Here is a variegated musa sapientum 'Sweet Cream', being sold on the internet at Asiatic Nursery for $350 apiece. I'm not very impressed with this one, but maybe it'll start looking better as it matures.
This is the mythical 'Indonesian Ivory' banana. Proof here that it actually DOES exist. The owner is not very impressed with it, and neither am I. Supposedly it will show better variegation as it matures. I hope so! One of these sold for $500 on the internet once.
I should say that none of these will be available anytime soon. These are all solitary specimens in the owner's collection, on display at his nursery. He has a very nice butterfly greenhouse, with several Ae Aes planted in it. Here's the largest one.