I was told by a long-time banana grower about some bananas that his brother, Shawn, were growing near me (USDA zone 9). Shawn has been growing this banana for over three years in his current location 25 miles east of me and they have been reliable bearers with good tasting fruit, though most years the fruit has been late so he has harvested and ripened them indoors. I met Shawn this afternoon and bought five of his pups, including a 2-3 which I'll donate for a charity auction this weekend. He has 15-20 larger plants in his yard right now and one of them has a nice bunch of fruit from a bloom that came early this year in May. Another one bloomed about a month ago and another has a flower emerging right now. The plants reportedly produce good tasting fruits which his brother described as similar to Dwarf Brazilian, though that's not what this banana is. It is a long story which I don't care to get into, but this is an unknown variety and possibly a new mutation. Shawn has one for sale on eBay right now at
California Hardy Fruiting Banana Exotic Tree / Plant - eBay (item 290248704127 end time Jul-30-08 17:49:18 PDT) and I've encouraged him to become a member here and put some for sale here. I took my camera with me, planning to take photos, but then was alerted to my stupid mistake with the message "NO CF". Doh! Well, Shawn says he has a flikr album which he will send me the link to later and I'll post that later.
Note: I'm the current high bidder on the eBay auction but, as I've already picked up my bananas in person, please feel free to outbid my $25 bid. He has several more.