Washington DC bananas
 

My apologies that some of these are turned, they are fine on my computer but then when I upload them they turn back, and the onsite photo edit software always fails to be able to turn them back...oh well!

I was recently in Washington DC, my second trip there since appreciating bananas. Last time I saw some great stuff, and was keen on finding as many varieties as I could throughout the city. The National Botanic Gardens (just across the street from the Capital Building) has a nice little collection of 12 or so bananas, presented here are the most interesting ones along with bananas found around the city.

These 2 photos are of an undescribed/unknown M. balbisiana variety at the National Botanic Gardens (NBG). It is incorrectly labeled as M. textilis. I have seen this same variety of M. balbisiana also mislabeled as M. textilis in Southern Florida.



This is a dwarfed Ensete superbum (not dwarf) at the NBG. It is so small because they grow them in containers, this one was just recently planted in the ground it seems. Last time, I saw another one they had that was flowering in its ~20-30gal container.


Musa coccinea at the NBG.



Musella lasiocarpa outside in one of the courtyards at the NBG.


Musa basjoo outside near the Musella.


Musa mannii inside the conservatory.


Some nice Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' outside across the street.


A fair number of 'Siam Ruby' patches accompanied the Ensete outside.


I found a few of these 'Dwarf Cavendish' in containers around a big fountain on the National Mall.


A very nice use of a medium-large Ensete ventricosum 'Maurelii' outside the Smithsonian Castle.


And finally, Musa basjoo peeking out from the garden outside the Smithsonian Castle.

Re: Washington DC bananas
 

Thanks Gabe, I'll have to share these pics with my friend who grew up there. What the heck were you doing there?

Re: Washington DC bananas
 

...just hanging out! My mom had a conference and I just tagged along.

Re: Washington DC bananas
 

Nice! I haven't been to D.C. or the National Arboretum since about 1994 or so. I can't remember if they had any bananas back then or not.

Re: Washington DC bananas
 

There are nice bananas and some palms in DC, as you saw. There is a real nice Windmill Palm in a front yard of an old apartment building in DC; wish mine were as big!

Re: Washington DC bananas
 

That makes 2 of us!

Re: Washington DC bananas
 

Or 3. :D