NeedForSeed

With all the different banana species running around I'm curious about what variety you guys have as your absolute favorite?

If you have difficulties choosing write your top three!

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¡Totalmente loco!

sunfish

NeedForSeed

Oops! Too slow I guess...

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¡Totalmente loco!

palmtree

Right now its Ensete tandarra Red for me! Im hoping that when my Saba and ice cream banana go in the ground they will become the new favs, but right now its Ensete hands down!
Their growth rate and color is so nice that it makes up for the fact that once it flowers (and doesnt even make bananas), it will die forever and never sent up a baby unless damaged in such a way to force new pups.
Come to think of it, anyone ever think that Ensete doesnt really have a lot of banana plant qualities. I think there has been debates about if they are truly banana plants or only close relatives?

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Location: New York City, zone 7b

TommyMacLuckie

Saba has been my fave so far. Hell I even learned how to pronounce it correctly to boot. They just get so HUGE. I love 'em. Have yet to eat any good fruit though - it just never seems to be able to do its thing.

Second would be....Zebrina (tied with Dwarf Cav).

Third...so far...Orinoco - just for the sake that I can look around one particular yard and all I see are banana fronds of all the Orinocos. Remove that factor and I'd have to do with Ornata Lavender just over Dwarf Cav.

Haven't had enough success yet with several others that are in the midst of growing to establish any kind of opinion like that.

Richard

I don't grow any species bananas, just hybrids for fruit.

These are hybrids, not species For more information on the subject, see Bananas Genera and the Bananas.org Wiki.

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Back in business at plantsthatproduce.com

Rmplmnz

Another thread

Best Cooking Banana?

Gabe15

There really isn't a debate, these days it is mostly just confused hobbyists where a lot of the debating might be happening. Botanically, Ensete is a genus of Musaceae, the banana family. "Banana" in this sense is taken to mean any plant of the Musaceae, similar to how "ginger" generally refers to all members of the Zingiberaceae, or "orchid" being any member of the Orchidaceae.

However, since the focus and diversity within the family is overwhelmingly dominated by plants of the genus Musa, often the word "banana" is associated with just Musa without regard of the other genera. Whichever way you want to look at it, Ensete are still part of the banana family.

Mainly for Ensete ventricosum as a crop, the word "enset" is often used similar to how we use "banana" to refer to Musa. I suppose you could also use "enset" to refer to all Ensete species but it would probably get confusing.

It must be kept in mind that this is precisely why botanical Latin nomenclature has been adopted for natural, living organisms. Common names get confusing and are too varied. A name which is in a language which no one speaks (Latin) can be used equally and consistently by everyone.

I would just like to make it known that not all edible bananas are of hybrid (multi-specific) origin. Interspecific hybridity has done much to add to the diversity of edible bananas, but has basically no significant role in making them "edible". There are even still some edible cultivars which are derived purely from a single form of a wild species.

Additionally, as we know from what is offered via the nursery trade, there are a number of Musa hybrids which are not edible varieties.

On an even nerdier note, some naturally occurring species (within and beyond Musa) are likely the result of hybridization and subsequent population stabilization between other species.

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Growing bananas in Colorado, Washington, Hawaii since 2004. Commercial banana farmer, 200+ varieties.

TommyMacLuckie

Ahhhh. Species. Hybrids. I forget about that part.

Aren't hybrids just combinations of various species? Ha ha.

hydroid

At this point I like the Saba due to size and cold hearty traits, and I just started with Dwarf Cavendish after seeing and tasting them in Bermuda. They seem like an easy plant to grow and tasty fruit. I think DC is gonna be my "workhorse" plant for fruit. After 3 years with the Raja Puri I'm thinking it's pretty finickey, but I was able to get 4 or 5 pups from it this year so we'll see what happens next year.
Bo