Over a period of years, we’ve tried three different clones of the Eastern Himalayan (India to Myanmar) native banana, Musa ornata, with no luck getting them to survive. We finally gave up, concluding that it simply wasn’t winter hardy here, living up to its on-line reputation of being a Zone 9-11 plant. That was before
When I first read the 2010 paper describing the discovery of an orange-flowered Musella (dwarf yellow banana), I was hopelessly hooked, and my heart filled with lust. Hanging out at 4,000′ elevation in China’s Sichuan province was a previously undiscovered population of only 130 orange-flowered plants, compared the more typical yellow. When you have grown
If Live Gives you Bananas, Make ’em Orange Read More »
This October marks our first flowering of Musa aurantiaca, a little-known species from the Arunchal-Pradesch and Assam region of India, into surrounding Myanmar and Tibet. We love that both the flower and developing bananas are both bright red. So far, our plant has sailed through winter temperatures of 11 degree F, with no problems. Thanks
Here’s a new banana to add to the list of hardy species, Musa haekkinenii. This very new, compact-growing, species was first published in 2013, and named after Finnish Musa expert, Markku Häkkinen. Genetically, it’s a relative of Musa coccinea & Musa exotica, that hails from Phú Thọ Province of Northern Vietnam, where it was discovered
Hankerin’ for Hakkinen’s Banana Read More »
We are thrilled at the performance of the little-known banana, Musa nagesium var. hongii. Our plants are from the recently discovered population in Northeast India, which is a good jaunt from the formerly known populations in Yunnan, China. These sailed through our cold winter, and have exploded in growth during our hot summer. We love
Flowering well in the late summer at JLBG is the florally magnificent banana, Musa ornata. Native to Myanmar, Northern India, and surrounding regions, it isn’t typically winter hardy in Zone 7b. This is Hayes Jackson’s selection, Musa ornata ‘Anniston’, which sailed through last winters 11 degrees F.
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
