hi its in a real sunny place on a water drip system twice a day, and fed with tomato feed weekly all spring and summer. its leaves have now grown up to the roof, as you can see on the picture
got a couple of palm tree photos if you like to see them

What a lovely oasis you got there Janet

it is always nice to see such healthy plants. It may be cooler and grayer in Northern England but I am sure the humidity helps along with your TLC. (and I thought I had zone denial, )

hi everyone although the basil my banana is by the kitchen windows, i keep other plants next to the hot tub.
i grow coleus,hot lipstick plants,impatiens and begonia canes/rexs and echium pinna they grow up 12ft in this area.
i dampen down the floor with water daily all summer, plus mist the plants, and over stones on every saucer. i have had brilliant humidity in this area
sometimes i can only work in this area for a short time, and have to open the doors wide. the hot tub is by glass doors next to the summer house on the last photo
The perspex roof is uv treated, coloured bronze you cant get sunburn, but you come out of there soaking wet after 10 minutes have put a photo in for you to share

ardesia said: (and I thought I had zone denial, )

Heh. Zones? ZONES!!?? We doan need no stinkink zones!!

At least that is my attitude. Zone 3 or Zone 9 plant? I doan care. LMAO

rosieann99 said:hi i have had my banana for about 5 years bought it from a specialist in uk lives in a big pot by the kitchen window these plants dont do very well in north england seem to do better in the south of england Have lost 2 already so when i got this one i kept it under cover
its had babys this year cant believe it, always called it basil for years now its babs
but noticed the boys called it basil the other day

Very nice Janet.

I bought a Musa basjoo Summer '14 - it was maybe 15 inches tall. Wintered over indoors that winter per seller instructions. Put in ground in May '15.

It is hardy here with protection which last winter was 3 feet of straw and leaves. Came thru just fine and the uppermost leaf reaches ~ 10 feet at this time.

Will cut it down and put it to sleep in about a month.

hi they do grow outside here but we have some nasty frost sometimes, best left out south of england , I live in the north of uk, hence the artifical humidity
the leaves are hugh great to look at, got an elephant ears this year it, had to send to a specialist nursery
growing down by the hot tub, its only a baby at the moment
did not think the bulb would grow waited all summer

Well it's been two years. My bananas have done really well this year. I've given them a lot more water and fertilizer. With the fertilizer, I throw a couple of handfuls of slow release 10-10-10 every month, and I use Stump Remover (Potassium nitrate) every week on top of that. I try to water at least three times a week. Quite a few leaves got scorched due to the very high temperatures a few weeks ago, plus drought conditions. Here's a picture of them as of today.

They look fantastic, Cam. How much longer til you get some fruit? Do you just cut them down and mulch them well for winter?

I'm not sure Karen? Our growing season isn't long enough sadly and I have to rely on mild winters to preserve as much of the stem as possible. I sometimes pile mulch around them but I don't cut them back until late winter, but it's a nasty mess when I do lol. I may cut them to a foot or two before they turn mushy and pile some leaves around them for protection. For the most part I rarely protect them, but they still come back.

I've read that it's best to cut them back very short and then pile on the mulch. Some people use a wire cage of the plants and pile the cage full of mulch, but that's not a good look for the garden.

My mom grew them in Phoenix, AZ. She got a lot of bananas, but they'd freeze and die about every 8 to 10 years and she'd have to start over.

The wire cage thing sounds interesting. I'd love to be able to save as much of the stem as possible. I think in 2016 we only got a few light freezes and most of the stem survived. I hope we have mild winter this year?

It's amazing your mom grew bananas in Phoenix. Did she have to water them every day?

Yes, she often had to water twice a day during the triple digit heat. She kept them well mulched all summer too.
Supposedly we'll have an el nino winter and it's supposed to be colder and more wet for both of us. We'll see. I know you can't depend on their predictions.

Wow, that's dedication. I've been putting a lot of mulch around mine because we've had several days above 100 and it bakes the soil. I don't mind a wet winter since we're experiencing a drought, I just dread the colder part.

I agree. We really need the water. Our monsoon season started off well in July with 4 inches, but we've gotten almost nothing in August so far.

Wow that's amazing. We got 2-3 inches of rain earlier in the week, which is unusual here. I hope we get more rain.

Cameron, I think during summer you can freely water your Bananas everyday. Lucky you, you got rain, even better for them! These plants are used to daily torrential downpours in the tropics.

I may increase watering again but I'm just afraid of the water bill being high lol. We got another half inch of rain which was wonderful and we have a chance for more tonight. It's very unusual to get this much rain in August.