thewebgal
05-31-2020, 01:40 PM
Hi y'all! I've been away for a while, but with the Cover-19 isolation, I decided I wanted a fresh start on a garden of tropicals this year. We are in Fairfax, VA - close to Wash, DC. We have a garden space by the front door that faces SSE, so I figured with a brick wall behind them, I could get an extended growing season. I'd grown elephant ears in the space in years past, but even tho we had a mild winter there was no sign of therm coming back. So, I moved an azelea and some hostas out of the space, threw 3 wheelbarrowloads of chopped mulched leaves there and worked them in with a tiller, then we had a couple of late freezes, and I was able to plant new plants there on May 16. Anyway - I planted 4 green elephant ears in the back row by the wall, 2 black fringe elephant ears and 2 Basjoo Musa cold hardy bananas in the front so they'll clear the rain gutters when they get tall. (Green arrows point at the bananas - 2 in ground and a dwarf cavendish in the pot).
I've been running the sprinkler every other day now that we are having warm sunny days - and while I thought one of the two Basjoo Musa banana plants was dying, with the main leaf folding over and turning yellow, it started sprouting a new leaf yesterday and its thriving!
I've grown bananas in pots before and had good luck a couple times (tho never any fruit - I suspect we are too far north for fruit) - but I love the look of the plants once they get going.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=66040&size=0 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=66040&ppuser=10558)
I've been running the sprinkler every other day now that we are having warm sunny days - and while I thought one of the two Basjoo Musa banana plants was dying, with the main leaf folding over and turning yellow, it started sprouting a new leaf yesterday and its thriving!
I've grown bananas in pots before and had good luck a couple times (tho never any fruit - I suspect we are too far north for fruit) - but I love the look of the plants once they get going.
http://www.bananas.org/gallery/watermark.php?file=66040&size=0 (http://www.bananas.org/gallery/showphoto.php?photo=66040&ppuser=10558)