Huge leaves to go bananas over
If you want dramatic, exotic foliage, growing bananas is the way forward as the stars of a tropical garden, even if you live in the north. However, if you don’t want the fuss of overwintering, read about hardy big-leaved plants. I absolutely love bananas. My love affair began at the spring and autumn Harrogate Flower Shows in 2015. I brought back a banana from the Lost World Nursery stand and another one from Harperley Hall Farm Nurseries.
Growing for fruit was never an option and certainly something I’m not interested in. It’s the huge leaves and intense colour I’m cultivating them for. They’re fascinating, with changing patterns and colours at different times of the year, strongest in the brightest light. There are two basic things to remember about bananas. Firstly, they’re NOT trees, but the world’s biggest herbaceous perennial. The ‘trunk’ is composed of fleshy leaf stems wrapping around the growing point. Secondly, at least two commonly available varieties are called hardy. They’re not – even Musa basjoo needs careful wrapping to get it through the winter.
Ensete ventricosum Maurelii
The red Abyssinian banana or Ethiopian black banana is really the star of the show. It’s easy to think that something so exotic-looking won’t stand our weather, but that’s not true. In fact, it’s performed the best it ever has this year, planted outside in the raised bed in a large Root Pouch container. Having lived in the greenhouse and conservatory in previous years, I’m quite surprised at this.
The massive paddle-shaped leaves, almost a metre long, stand up well to the winds. The burgundy red and deep green leaves with a red midrib have a red tinge at the leaf edges. Its rate of growth is formidable. I hacked it to a stump to stop a plague of aphids hiding in the leaf stems one spring – that’s one downside. Classed as H2 on the hardiness scale, this is one plant that must come indoors (minimum temperature 1-5°C). Luckily, the strong handles on the fabric Root Pouch bag mean I can simply lift it out of the raised bed to overwinter in the conservatory. Height 2.5m, less in pots.
Growing bananas – Musa Dwarf Cavendish
This is a much more manageable size, growing up to a height of only 2-3m. The dwarf Cavendish is also worth growing for its leaves alone. Its smaller but bright leaves cause young leaves to bear distinctive dark patterns, which then fade. If you’re determined to grow bananas for fruit, this is the one to go for, but bear in mind they need a year-round temperature of 15°C, which will cost a fortune in a greenhouse, and good light intensity, so a living room won’t do. However, this variety will make a good houseplant.
The fruits range from about 15 to 25cm in length, and each plant can bear up to 90 fingers. It’s a close relative of the plantation bananas we all buy in shops – the ones you see in the Canary Islands.
Musa lasiocarpa
The ‘hardy’ flowering Chinese banana (Musella or golden lotus banana) is supposed to be able to stand temperatures down to -10°C. However, most advice is to grow it in pots and overwinter under glass, which is what I do. The Chinese banana, a native of Yunnan, is compact, growing to just 1.2-1.7m. It has a conical, thick stem and grey-blue leaves, and after several years, it develops yellow, waxy flowers that can last for months. Unlike some varieties, it is wind-resistant, with tough leaves.
Unfortunately, a flower means that the plant will die, but it will have formed lots of offsets, or pups, by then. Plants are happy in full sun or shade – mine gets only a few hours of morning sun, and it’s quite happy.
Growing bananas – Musa basjoo
The Japanese banana or hardy banana is the most common variety grown in the UK, and in very mild districts can be left in the ground over winter. It won’t stand frost, so it needs to be wrapped in fleece and, in colder areas, surrounded by a chicken wire cage packed loosely with straw or bracken and covered at the top with plastic to keep water out.
My plant is bushier than the Red Abyssinian, and it hasn’t reached the same heights, but that’s because I hacked it right back last autumn to get it indoors. The leaves reach up to 1m when established. As the sun becomes more intense, the green leaves develop blotches of burgundy. It’s another perfect plant for the tropical garden and is fuss-free. Height: 4 m, less in pots, hardiness H2.
Potted guide: Growing bananas for foliage
Summer care:
- Bananas need full sun (apart from M. lasiocarpa), and lots of water and feed in a free-draining, moisture-retentive soil.
- Plants need protection from strong winds, which will tear the leaves.
- Mulch well with well-rotted manure, chicken manure and/or feed with liquid tomato feed or any high nitrogen feed.
Winter care:
- Kept dry over winter, plants can remain dormant and will survive 5°C.
- Plants are best overwintered in a cold greenhouse in temperatures above 5°C. If kept above 10°C, they will keep their leaves, but this is only practical with small plants. I made a ‘banana house’ out of a 4ft wide tomato house with a heat mat low down.
- For fruit, a winter minimum of 15°C is recommended.
- My two big plants (M. basjoo and Ensete ventricosum Maurelii) put on massive growth by late summer, so my overwintering plans changed. Previously, I’ve carried them up into the conservatory, leaves and all, and kept them fairly dry over winter. Now, I’m allowing leaves to die back in late autumn, cutting back the stem to 20cm tall.
- Here’s how to overwinter larger M. basjoo plants outside.
Origins of banana plants
Musa Dwarf Cavendish is a selected form originating in southern China in 1826. The Duke of Devonshire acquired plants which fruited in the glasshouse at Chatsworth House. The plant was named after his family name, Cavendish. Other plants, bearing the same name, reached the Canary Islands and the Americas at the same time, and Musa Dwarf Cavendish is now considered a ‘type’ rather than a specific cultivar. Read more about potting on tender plants with Dalefoot Compost.
