I was lucky enough to be able to attend a lecture by Tony Avent of Plant Delights Nursery (located in Juniper Level, NC) this morning here in Houston. His lecture was entitled "If you can't stand the heat, het outta the garden-Hot Plants for Hot Climates". If any of you are familiar with his nursery you'll know he is one of the premier plant explorers of the day. He also writes some hilarious and borderline non-PC plant descriptions for their catalog. Speaking of the catalog, the covers are always interesting as well. They always have a plant theme but are usually tied to some current events and done in a very funny/satirical way.
He showed well over 100 slides of plants adapted to hot climates, as well as one's that will take an extreme amount of cold, such as certain Agaves. Of course, he mentioned a couple of bananas as well...M. velutina and M. 'Siam Ruby'. He brought 'Siam Ruby' into the country from one of his plant collecting trips to Thailand. I actually bought my first 'Siam Ruby' from his nursery. While I didn't agree with a couple of things he said regarding M. velutina, his talk was very entertaining. If you have never been to his website, I highly recommend it. It is
Plant Delights Nursery, Inc. - Hosta and Exotic Perennials. They have a great selection of elephant ears, cannas, and some bananas, as well as cold-hardy succulents, and many perennials. Check it out..you'll be glad you did!