Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Hey y’all this is just a lil update of how the bananas are doing after our terrible polar blast around Christmas 2022

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Abyssinian bananas planted this spring, I believe around March, have taken off like crazy this year along with the blood bananas to the left that survived the polar blast. I transplanted the other blood banana from the right side of this garden to get more sun and replaced with the Heliconia but I guess I missed part of the corm because there’s a straggler growing up there as well!
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Ice Cream seems to have finally gotten established here and has taken off. The largest plant now is actually a pup from last year, while the mother plant has recovered it isn’t quite as tall, but a very healthy Mat of 4 plants so far.
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Thai black also bounced back well, it froze to the ground this winter but it already has its first pup shooting up!
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My poor Ae’Ae was planted late February, had its first leaf after planting April 30th, it’s next leaf May 21st and it’s next cigar is just barely starting to be visible in the middle of the p-stem. Hopefully it can pick up the pace and get some good growth before it cools off
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These two Abyssinians survived the frost and bounced back well, the one on the left oddly enough never completely defoliated even tho the temperature was down to 23??? The one on the right did lose all of its leaves but it was pushing a new cigar three weeks later or so. Hopefully they will do even better this year with the new pond offering up radiant heat.
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The bordelons were torched down to the ground but have grown back impressively and of course the basjoo behind them never really stopped growing they did however lose all of their leaves during the cold event.
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This is where I moved the blood banana to help block my compost pile because the city has just assumed it was trash two or three times now. I think because it’s so close to the compost and in mostly full sun that it’s growing so fast that it’s almost choking itself, I have to be sure to keep up with lots of water for these ones back here.

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

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Last but not least the Siam Ruby bananas are back and beautiful as ever, but for some reason they don’t seem to put in any height.

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Awesome looking plants and yard!

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Very nice garden! Do you get bananas?

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

So far I have only gotten the basjoo and bordelons to flower, but I’m hoping ice cream will soon!

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Very beautiful gaden, I've never heard of bordelons it's a striking. How established are most of your bananas ?

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

I like the way you have integrated your bananas with other plantings!

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

All the bananas have been in the ground for a year minimum except the Ae’Ae and the Two Abyssinians from the first picture. I’ve had Abyssinians in that spot for three years now, but the first year I lost one to overwatering, the second year they both took heavy freeze damage so I transplanted them in front of the compost and replaced with two new ones this spring

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

A very straight forward way to use banana peels in the garden is to add the whole peel to the soil when planting.

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Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

I am wondering about Siam Ruby cold tolerance. You seem to indicate they were left in ground over winter. How cold did it get and for how long, where you are?

I have a potted Siam R that I obtained this spring in a 4 inch pot. I think (without going out in the dark to measure) it is about 3 feet tall with two emerging pups and growing fast. I will of course plant a pup out at some point but would like to know what it can take.

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Aww yeah, they’ve been in the ground for years now. The coldest it got was around 23F. They’re planted under the canopy of a live oak, mulched regularly and were mulched heavily around the base during our coldest week

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

The jungle area in the outback looks 🔥.

Water feature is nice, mine are still full of tiny tree frog tadpoles so I didn't move the tropical fish(red platys swords and guppies) outside this season

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Thanks for that feed back. It gives me hope that Siam Ruby would do well here, in ground, in winter. I had and lost to rot a Siam R. that would pup prolifically, like the ones you have and they too would not get tall. I got another clone to replace it and this one has gotten taller first and then has put out just two pups so far (got it back in April). This clone is acting more like a normal banana instead of bunching up with a clump of babies.

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

It is going to get wet and windy.

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Looks like most everything will survive the wind, my tallest basjoo snapped its p-stem but it’s already shooting up two pups. Everything else is just severely bent

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

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Huge live oak fell in the front yard and is currently blocking the street. Clipped the neighbors porch roof and just barely missed that car

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Any advice for how to straighten the Abyssinians back up?
The wind seems to have loosened them up quite a bit

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

I might consider putting a few stakes in the ground and tying them to those. Might need some big stakes though. Although you can probably use short stakes close to the ground because I imagine that would create enough of an opposing force, even at an angle, to hold the p-stems in place until they figure themselves out. Or Maybe tie them to any structure within a reasonable distance?

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

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So I ended up kinda just stacking some stones and bricks around the bases to give em a lil stability. So far so good, I may trim off some more leaves to keep the wind from blowing it too much

Re: Savannah Bananas summer 2023
 

Nice quick solution. Looking almost normal :)