Anybody in FL grow this?

http://davesgarden.com/pf/showimage/85865.html

I just can't get away from colorful and varigated leaves! Coleus, Cannas and now bannanas. (too many n's?) I don't care if it never has fruit, I just have to have those huge leaves stripey leaves!
Pati

I've never seen a banana plant with stipes, but my neighbor grows one with plain green leaves and one is growing on the grounds where I work. The fruit is pretty good, smaller than the bananas you buy in the store and not as sweet, but still delicious. The stipes on the leaves are striking.

I have one bananna tree that is doing really well. It's the gorgeous striped leaves that I really want!
Pati

o pati, im with you, anything variegated, striped, tri-colored-love that foliage-add that to my wish list too! debi

forgot to say, if you are looking for one, check Going Bananas in south florida. he probubly has it. i also think i saw it in either Logees or Stokes catalog awhile back. debi

Thanks Debi. I'll try that and also try to find out the name of the man I bought mine from at our local botanical garden's plant sale.
Pati

Hey Debi, I just GOOGLED that website, and it's the same man I bought mine from! He has the AeAe listed as waiting list only so I guess a lot of people love that leaf too. The description says the fruit are colored also.
Pati

I don't have the green & white variegated banana (correct number of "n"s), but I do have the red variegated cultivar 'rojo'
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/38351/index.html It is supposed to produce edible red bananas, but it hasn't made any fruit yet. It does survive our winters which went as low as 28 F last season.

I also came across a description of Chinese Golden Lotus Banana while web surfing and had to have some!
http://davesgarden.com/pf/go/55701/index.html
I located two on eBay from different sellers at fairly good prices and bought them last January. They are interesting in that the flower and fruit arise straight up in the center of the leaves of the banana stem. The flower is somewhat pinecone shaped and is used as a symbol in lots of Buddhist art and temple sculpture. Both of my Golden Lotus Banana are doing well, but haven't shown any sign of blooming yet. The Golden Lotus Banana seems to be a fairly new introduction to US horticulture, but seems to be fast becoming a fashionable plant to grow.

I currently have banana fruit on what I think is my 'busjus' (sp.?) banana, the first time I've gotten a banana stalk on one of my trees. Over the past two years, I've gotten about 10 "pups" off this plant and it currently has two more of good size that I can transplant. I can't find a Plant Files page for the busjus banana.

I just learned recently that bananas are heavy feeders. I dumped about 1/2 pound of Milorganite around my busjus and other bananas last month. The heavy dose of fertilizer may have been what prompted the flowering and fruiting on the busjus.

And now you have prompted a quest to find the green & white variegated banana!!

Jeremy

HAVE MERCY Jeremy! Now I need a Red Banana too! In certain circles the word "enabler" is used. Here is the definition:

"noun) : one that enables another to achieve an end; especially : one who enables another to persist in self-destructive behavior by providing excuses or by helping that individual avoid the consequences of such behavior "

Of course I mean this in the most gentle teasing way. I love all your posts, and Sugar assures us you are a most upstanding gentleman. *smile*
Pati

Yes he is and that one has two hands on it. Hope no monkeys escape from the zoo.
Our 'Taco Bell' is against the back of some residences here and often 'Hands' of bananas have been hanging over the fence.
sidney

pati-check out the id forum - the post that happy put up re: christmas shrub-you will lose your mind! LOL debi

Wait till you see the prices on the variegate (Ae-Ae) banana. They start in the neighborhood of $100+ and are very temperamental.

The red are common and easy to find at reasonable price. I have a couple.
Jan...

WOW Debi, You wooda' thought she would have posted it here too!

Jan, I checked out prices on the AeAe too. You noticed I fell strangely silent on the subject of ordering one. *sigh*
Pati