A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Here are a few pics from my South Central Pa backyard . I started landscaping the area last year after we installed the pool in 2006 .

In the beginning ...



And today ...






Blooming Orinocos and Ensete Maurelli






Musella Lasiocarpa from Austin in Little Rock ...







Thanks to all for making this a great place to learn about bananas ( a couple years ago I had no idea this was possible) and special thanks to Randy4UT and Austin for inspiration and great plants .

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Great yard!:bananas_b

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Awesome job!

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

looks great!

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Looks Great, :bananas_b

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Amazing garden! I'm glad to see the musella has really grown nicely for you, and it has a good sized pup already. Keep 'em growin'!

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HEY RICK!!!!!
Great job!!!! Thanks so much for posting all the great pics. Your place has really taken on a totally new look and man, does it look good. If you get a chance, you gotta show everyone the palapa that you have!!! Let me know if you see anything else I have and I would be more than happy to get it up to you...
Randy

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

That was great to see the before and after. It's beautiful! Great job.

Jen

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Just beautiful thank you for sharing your grate garden with us!

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WOW Rick! That is just Beautiful.. You have done an Awesome job...Tropical Lush and Very inviting!!!Love love love the rockers!!!
Kylie:waving:

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Thats a neat retreat you have there,Rick!
:bananas_b

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Shows a lot of work and gardening talent....congrats!

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Invest in a couple of monkeys and maybe some parrots :) Looks awesome.

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lol funny you should mention that. Someone must have let a few breeding pairs of tropical birds loose in my area. I now have about 40-50 love birds frequenting my back yard as well as a few conures and I even spotted a macaw this year. I live in AZ none of these birds should be here. They didn't start showing up in my yard until I planted the banana trees and the sunflowers.
Awesome back yard by the way! Especialy for PA!

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Congrats!!! Great yard man!!!:woohoonaner:

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Your yard is Beautiful! Great landscaping job!

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

That is totally awesome! BEAUTIFUL yard mano.

:goteam:

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

That is absolutely gorgeous and so inviting. I bet you spend a lot of time out there - I know I would!!!

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

I am in nj. where do you keep all your plants in the winter?
You must have a lot of room. Nice yard .
Thanks for the pics.Great job.:woohoonaner:

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Fantastic yard - thanks for the pics!
Cassie

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Your yard looks GREAT!!!!
MG

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Thanks to everyone for the compliments ...
Paula , the two clumps of orinocos were stored in the basement last year which is where I will keep the ensete this year as well as a few orinoco pups that I separated last fall and the musella . I kept the orinoco pups in pots near a window last winter . The blood bananas were kept in pots as well but , I think they could be stored dormant as well . The siam ruby will most likely go in a pot . The rest of the cannas and ee's are stored in a dormant condition in plastic grocery bags hung from the floor joists in the basement . I don't have a ton of room and it is pretty full . I sure could use a few more windows on the southside .

Here are the orinocos in storage .

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Looks awesome.

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I don't know what is more amazing, you yard or the fact that you bring the plants in for the winter. Keep it up. It looks great!!

Andrew

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oh man ive got to get to work on my yard.....looking at yours make me green with envy!!!!

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Okay I was impressed before but now that I have seen the pictures of the plants in the winter inside. I'm AMAZED! You don't have a green thumb you have a green body. GEEZ, I know others here do things like that in the winter but I couldn't picture it. That is so cool to see.

Jen

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That is the one part I don't look forward to ...

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Thanks Tiki farmer ,
Could you tell me the temp. in the basement
in the winter.Your yard is beautiful ,
Thanks again Paula

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Paula , I had a thermometer hanging down there and it read around 55 - 60F most of the time . I brought them out late in April when it looked like the chance of frost was over , as I recall .
I really need to start writing this stuff down ...

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

After seeing your pics on storing, you're giving me ideas. I have a Ensete redleaf. It has a very fat Pstem. It is about 25" around and without leaves at least 4ft. Do you think this one can be stored? I might like to try what you did. Thank You Raggedy

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Tikifarmer was'nt that awfully heavy? You just put them on the floor and thats it!!?????:waving:
You separate the pups in the spring?
Thanks.........

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Thanks tiki farmer,
I keep my basement around 60.

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Raggedyredhead , from what I have read ensete can be stored the same way and that is what I am planning to do with mine this winter . This is the first year for my ensete so , I guess we"ll see .

Magicgreen , yes they are very heavy and yes I just put them on the floor like you see . I built a cart of sorts to move them and so far it has worked out ok . 2 of the pstems are blooming with bananas on them right now so , I am guessing I will cut those off prior to moving them ( to save some weight ) as I am assuming they will die anyway . Last fall I cut 2 pups off and kept them alive in the house over the winter . The one is probably 6' or so now and the other one a bit less because I kept it in the pot longer . I really don't think it would be prudent to separate the pups in the fall without potting them up , the better time would be spring . That's probably what I should have done but , the other thing I have heard is that the pups don't grow as fast after being separated , so I was trying to keep the clump in tact as long as possible . With that said I just remembered I did have one large pstem break off when I moved them out in the spring , I planted it and it is doing very well . It is probably 10' or so , but has not pupped yet .

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

I separate them in the fall . Before I overwinter
and they do just fine. Am I doing something wrong?

Re: A Few Pics From My PA Backyard
 

Awesome yard, especially your deck layout.
Storing the whole mat seems like a better route, and would work great for some of the smaller sized Musa's.
Thanks for sharing pics.

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I can't believe I just found this thread. Man that's amazing! It's scary to think what you could do in more tropical zone!

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Paula , it's good to hear that works for you (if it works it can't be wrong). I may have to try that with the one clump this year . It very well could be too large to move . We"ll see ...