Hello from Florida
 

Hello. :) My name's Anne. I bought a house in Florida (zone 9a) a little over a year ago and my front and back yards have been blank slates since then.

I don't have any gardening experience and don't particularly know what I'm doing, but I'd like to learn. I've been mulling over the idea of growing bananas for a few months, and when I saw my local Lowe's had Dwarf Cavendish I picked one up and brought it home. I googled like mad to figure out what I needed to know, and it felt like every other search I did lead me to posts here. So I thought I may as well make an account and hang around. I also bought two more banana plants online, Dwarf Red and Ice Cream (we'll see if it actually ends up being Ice Cream or not, judging by what I've read here). They haven't come in the mail yet, but here's a picture of my plant from Lowe's.

Edit: I was able to have the Ice-Cream-that's-probably-not-an-Ice-Cream removed from my order, since it hadn't shipped yet. I'm getting an actual Ice Cream from someone local through this forum instead. :)

Re: Hello from Florida
 

I'm also in 9a Inverness Florida. My first banana was dwarf Cavendish years ago. They have purple when you get it but they turn green later. Thanks to these people I now have almost 30 hardy varieties. If need I can help you if you are close enough.

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Thank you! :) I live in Spring Hill. I don't know what's where around here but it looks like I'm a little under an hour drive south of you. I'm going to miss the purple markings, they're neat.

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Hi. Welcome!
Where did you order your Ice Cream from?

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Thank you. :) I ordered both my Dwarf Red and Ice Cream from Wellspring100 on Ebay. I searched their name here on the forum and it looked like people had good experiences with them, so I went for it. Of course, after I paid, I found a post saying someone had gotten Ice Cream from this seller that turned out to be something else. But it's a little late now.

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Fake ice creams are great. They are namwah. I have real ones and dwarf namwah.I'm more inland than you but there is a guy in Leesburg selling bananas for $5 and $10. He has a hard to get Veinte Cohol which fruits very fast. You should google it. My neighbor has extras of Raja Puri and pineapple.

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Next time, try to find someone here to give, exchange or sell you one. You'll get the real one.
I heard Going Bananas in Florida has the real one. That's where I ordered mine. I should get it at the end of the month.
Good luck.

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Hmm. Maybe I'll just assume mine is a Namwah and see if I can find someone here to sell me a real Ice Cream, then. Thank you both!

Re: Hello from Florida
 

If you get Namwah, it's good too. It's supposed to be better than Ice Cream. I'm waiting for 2 of them at the end of this month.
I guess we'll know what you get when it flowers.

Re: Hello from Florida
 

I don't mind a little suspense and surprise anyway. :ha: At least I only paid $10 for it. That's not too bad to gamble with. I'd be happy with a Namwah.

Edit: I was able to have the Ice-Cream-that's-probably-not-an-Ice-Cream removed from my order, since it hadn't shipped yet. But I'm still getting the Dwarf Red from ebay.

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Welcome to the banana gang!....

Re: Hello from Florida
 

And where are you taking your Ice Cream from?

Re: Hello from Florida
 

merce3 is going to drive up here and sell me one next weekend. A Dwarf Brazilian, too. :)

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Lucky gal!

*Kat steps away muttering* "nobody ever drove a plant to me except the guy wearing brown who showed up in a brown truck or the person driving a purple, orange and white van or the lady in the red, white and blue vehicle with a proper wrong side steering wheel...darn, I have to drive for my CL finds...or have to bike for "roadkill" plants...apparently...
I been in the right place
But it must have been the wrong time..." :ha:

Congrats and enjoy your new plants. BTW, when you joined did you read the fine print/rules regarding meetings between forum members? That pictures including all participants are required? Don't bother going back to check--just post what's necessary. ;)

Re: Hello from Florida
 

:ha: Oh, fine print huh. I guess I'll just have to take your word for it. ;)

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Greetings Anne-

Welcome to the Banana Express :nanerwaveytrain:

I don't think that most of us knew what we were doing when we joined, but we learned!

So will you. :bananas_b

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Don't worry about the fine print. There are at least two current or former LEOs that have posted on this thread, who will launch an investigation, should you go missing. Just let us know you're missing. :ha:

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Well that's reassuring! :ha:

Re: Hello from Florida
 

Haha, I thought it might be!

In all seriousness, never meet a stranger unless you have spoken on the phone and have a viable (traceable) number (in case you vanish). Leave that with someone when you go. Even better is to have someone go with you. Better yet, is to have a firearm on your person, in addition to the someone with you.

Always meet in a public place, like a Walmart parking lot. Follow these simple steps and you will be fine.

Re: Hello from Florida
 

My county's sheriff lets people use their office to complete online transactions. And when their office is closed, they said we can use their parking lot, which is well-lit and has 24/7 surveillance cameras. I never would've met someone for an online transaction before that, but with it... I feel a bit better.