Musa, Banana 'Bordelon'

Got a seedling last year from Greenearth Co. that was about 12” tall. It grew great last summer in the ground, and I protected it over ...Read Morethe winter (zone 7a) with about 18” of mulch. It came back stronger than ever, and it now a nice mat of 5 plants. I took a chance leaving it in the ground, but Greenearth Co. listed it as a zone 7. The red splotches on the leaves are fantastic, much more pronounced than Sikkimensis Red Tiger.

Rapid grower, makes lots of pups. I have to grow it indoors of course in my zone 7 in winter, but will be trying a well established pup o...Read Moreutside with heavy mulch this next winter just as an experiment when I have lots of extra. I have seen others store them under the house as corms in pots, or in a cool unlit garage, but not sure if the pstem would survive intact all winter.

Ordered three seedlings of this banana this spring from Brian Williams at Brian's Botanicals and they arrived in great shape all about a ...Read Morefoot or so high. I potted all three of them initially in one 15 gallon pot to grow in until it was warm enough to put them in the ground outside. Well, I procrastinated and didn't get them into the ground untill late May/early June of this year. In the bed I planted them in I tilled in some composted cow manure/ topsoil mix and added some potash and Osmocote to the soil. All I can say is "Wow!", in little over a month they had grown 10' high and are currently 20' tall at the tip of the tallest leaf (Has formed a massive clump of trees probably 4'x4' square). These are beautiful banana's with maroon undersides and splotches on the top of the leaf similiar to the blood-leaf banana. So far they have survived temperature drops right at freezing with no die back and would probably be hardy to zone 7 or higher with the proper protection. And I thought planting them in part shade on the NE corner of my house would stunt their growth...LOL!