Florida Gardening: where are ya, jax?, 1 by JaxFlaGardener

JaxFlaGardener wrote:
I'm here, still recovering from all the effort that went into the art show Aug 7. My garden went totally to weeds from lack of attention and frequent rains, but the hummingbirds seem to appreciate all of the Ipomoea coccinea that sprang up and covered everything. I have hummers visiting everyday now! It is the first time I've noticed them in my yard in the 3 years I've been here.

I would recommend giving the Musella lasiocarpa (Golden Lotus Banana) about the same care as you would provide any banana --lots of water and plenty of fertilizer. Mine are in full sun and seem to enjoy it greatly. I'll try to post a pix of the larger one if I can get my digital camera fired up with fresh batteries and out to the garden.

I think these bananas tend to stay fairly dwarf in size as compared to most bananas. I don't expect mine to get more than about 3 ft high.

I don't think you will need to concern yourself with any winter protection for your M. lasiocarpa in Umatilla. They are supposedly very winter hardy in our Zones. I will probably give mine a good heavy mulch of hay before the frosts come this winter.

One of my M. lasiocarpa started out severely stunted. I bought it on eBay from Hirt's Greenhouses and they sent me the remnants of a banana that had been entirely blackened by freeze damage (bad experience!). The freeze damage didn't happen in transit because other plants in the same shipment where fine. Anyway, I didn't want to go through the bother of trying to get a refund so I coaxed the blackened banana along and it finally did emerge from the roots a few months ago and is now about 1 ft high. That should give a good indication of their ability to withstand freezes, even as an infant in a 4 " pot where the freeze damage can be more severe than if the plant is in the ground.

When I first moved into my house, I began searching for a finial to put on my staircase newel post to replace whatever had been there originally but had been lost sometime within the 65 years of my house's existence. I bought several finials on eBay at fairly cheap prices, but wasn't happy with any of them until I ended up with a nice metal one about 9 inches high. I hadn't thought about its shape until today. I had assumed it was the traditional pineapple shape used for "welcome." But, LO!, on closer examination today -- it is the image of the Golden Lotus Banana so prevalent in Buddhist art! I like the finial even more now. The finial still hasn't been attached permanently to the staircase. Someday, I'll get around to refinishing the wood and then it will get bolted down (someday after about 1,000 other more critical projects are done!)

Jeremy

This message was edited Aug 16, 2005 10:31 PM

This message was edited Aug 16, 2005 10:36 PM