We’re always on the search for new bananas that will be winter hardy without protection in our Zone 7b winters, and two that have looked great so far are the South Asian native Musa balbisiana (Northeast India to South China) and the Northeast Indian native Musa nagensium var. hongii. If these continue to thrive, we will propagate these so we can share.
Have you had Musa nagensium var hongii flower? I think its a mainly red, multicolored thing?
No flowers yet.
I had a Musa Nagensium in the past and it was losing the dark coloration when the weather was hot. Especially with warm nights… The same thing happens with Ensete Ventricosum🙁. This is really sad… Have you notice the same thing?
Yes, the purple pigments in Musa, as well as plants like Acer palmatum are anthocyanins, which degrade in hot weather, where pigments like chlorophyll do not. This is why plants with purple foliage in spring “turn” green in summer. There are only a few examples where the switch that regulates pigments in plants was installed backwards. Prunus cerasifera ‘Krauter Vesuvius’ is the best known example, where the foliage emerges green in spring, and produces more anthocyanins as the weather warms, turning the foliage a darker purple in summer. With the more widespread use of CRISPR technology, it should be possible to take that segment of Prunus DNA and insert it into other plants.