Many people have stopped by to ask about the plant with the large leaves while I worked in the yard. Yes, that is a Banana Plant, technically not a tree but a large herb. It "trunk" is called pseudostem, meaning "false stem" and is made of numerous leaf stalks. The growing point is in the corm, which is like a bulb. Bananas reproduce by seed or by pups, genetically identical offsets of the mother plant. Supermarket bananas do not have seeds because they are sterile hybrids of 2 banana species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbasina.
The corm
The species I have is Musa basjoo, Japanese fiber banana, it is the hardiest of all bananas, and has overwintered with only a mulch layer in zone 7. My banana was bought and planted in late summer of 2011. It was frozen back to the ground during the first winter and I neglected to take pictures the next spring when 4 pups emerged because the growth point of the main stem had been damaged. Since then, I have wrapped the stems every winter in hopes of getting a bloom. Musa basjoo bananas are small and seedy so they are inedible. It is purely an ornamental plant.
BANANA LOG:
August 2011, Banana is planted.
Pushed 1 or 2 leaves before winter arrives and the stem is frozen to the ground. 4 pups replace it the next spring.  |
| Mid August 2012 |
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| Late September 2012 |
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| Mid January 2013 |
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| Late March 2013 |
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| Late April 2013 |
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| Early May 2013 |
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| Early July 2013 |
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| Mid August 2013 |
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| Late November 2013 |
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| Early April 2014 |
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| Mid May 2014 |
Updates will come as time progresses and the banana grows
I'm hoping for a bloom in 2014
Thanks for visiting!
-Alex
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