rblocke
 

Hi everyone, Iam new to the banana craze, I heard its not possible to grow fruiting bananas in Roseville,Ca. so I thought I would give it a try. I planted a Goldfinger and a Williams hybrid for starters, one with an eastern exposure and the other western, next to the Bahinea X Blakeana [Hong Kong Orchid tree] which is also not supposed to do well here. Any suggestions would be greatly apreciated. I love the tropical look but but wont be there until I can get them to produce. They were planted in july and are now just 5-6ft. RBLocke

Re: rblocke
 

Welcome to the forum! :06:

Re: rblocke
 

hi rb,
welcome! I, too, am new to this group (1 week), but i have some experience with bananas, and i raise quite a few tropical plants and fruit trees, in containers mostly. your usda climate zone is 9, about the same as mine 8-9. i live in seattle, wa. joereal, a senior member of this group, is in davis, ca, about 35 miles from roseville as the crow flies. you should check out his gallery. he has dozens of banana plants. they appear to be prolific. so, take heart, i'm sure you can do it.

goldfinger is rated for zone 8-9, and williams at zone 8-10, which is great because you are in that zone. however, you still need to do some winter preparations for your bananas as those in your area are doing. esp. because your area is probably at a higher elevation, than say, davis,ca; thus more subject to frosts, or even snow. check out this thread:

http://www.bananas.org/showthread.ph...ter+protection

happy gardening.
Chong