norfolkgarden

... Hi, Glad I found you! I was just looking for a list of ornamental bananas in order of hardiness. (found it in the forums.)
What i wasn't expecting was all the cool info on the other aspects of banana culture! Looking forward to reading through the forums.

We live in Norfolk, Virginia, in the last little bit of official USDA Zone 8a on the East Coast of USA. Zone 7b is just to the west across the Elizabeth river. The Chesapeake bay is to the north.
We have a small grove of M. Basjoo for about 4-5 years. We dont protect it at all. Some mild years we get a few leaves in mid winter, and some cold years the 8 inch diameter stems freeze almost all the way back to the ground.
We had 3 flowers the summer after the 1 mild winter.

I was born and raised in Mass, USA and spent 5 years living in Hawaii. Moving here after Hawaii meant starting almost from scratch with a brand new plant list. Most of the stuff we grew year round in Mass hates our hot humid summers, and the stuff from Hawaii doesn't survive our Norfolk winters.
I enjoy growing "tropical" things that survive our mild winters without a huge amount of protection.
Spent enough time over the past 15 years trying to baby stuff through the winter outdoors. "Not dead yet" is not the same as having the happy plants we did in Hawaii.
Now the truely tropical stuff goes into the house or in the shed for the winter.
We have a small cold greenhouse (an 8'x12' shed with 2 salvaged glass doors and 1 small window). We over winter a number of sturdy USDA Zone 9's there with 2 small electric heaters to keep the temp above 36F.

We have an Ensettii Maureii (sp?) for 2 years now. It overwinters in the shed. I've been told its hardy/not hardy here from different people who work in different local garden centers. Can anyone here offer some personal experience with this one? Thanks!
Just bought M. Rojo (no clue what that means in terms of the hardiness list in the forums) this summer. Any suggestions on what this cross-references to on the hardiness list? It is supposed to be hardy here according to the tag. I've learned that a lot of stuff listed for USDA Zone 8 really means USDA Zone 8B! It is spending this winter in the shed.

Thanks! Matt

planetrj

Welcome to the plantation!!!

Hope to see you posting around!
RJ

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you will never have enough bananas ^_^

Darkman

Welcome from Pensacola Florida. I live in zone 8b/9a so I won't be too much help but what will be is reading all the old post here. Use the search engine and post specific questions in the forum that best fits it. I'm sure that you will get lots of answers. Post some pics if you got any of your plants from the Summer time.

Again welcome!

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Darkman in Pensacola

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