It's Not Work, It's Gardening!: bananas

Showing posts with label bananas. Show all posts

Showing posts with label bananas. Show all posts

Banana update

>> Wednesday, June 27, 2018 – bananas

Late last fall I put the bananas (Musa basjoo) to bed for the winter, as I do every year. I did things differently that last time, doing as little as I could to protect them. Yes I mulched with leaves, but this time I didn't create a cage to fill, cover it with plastic, or anything else. I just put a minimal amount of leaves and hoped for the best.

Well, the winter was not mild by any measure, especially if you're a tropical herbaceous flowering plant. I was curious to see how my "protection" worked, and what would emerge come spring. As seen above in a photo taken a month ago on May 24, everything is fine!

Backtrack: bananas

>> Thursday, January 11, 2018 – bananas, overwintering

I realized recently that in my flurry of pre-freeze activity last month I never posted about my banana overwintering preparations. I let my Musa basjoo do whatever it will until a really hard freeze is forecast -- usually that means a low temperature below 25ºF (-4ºC) or so.

This year that condition was not forecast until December 6, so that's when I had to get moving on this. (Note that there had been a few nights of below freezing temperatures so the foliage was already fried, but the thick pseudostems can handle those temps without damage.)

Wednesday Vignette: bananas

>> Wednesday, December 13, 2017 – bananas

Something simple...

...closeups of my bananas (Musa basjoo). Well, parts of them at least.

Banana Surprise

>> Wednesday, October 25, 2017 – bananas, flowers

My bananas (Musa basjoo) did pretty well this year, even though they got little water. We had a mostly rain-free summer, and I don't remember watering these more than one time... if I did at all.

They're not quite as big as last year, but still manage to surprise me.

Bananas

>> Monday, July 10, 2017 – bananas

With July's heat here, I thought it was about time to take a look at a few of the more impressive plants in my garden. I'll start today with the bananas (Musa basjoo). It's late enough in the season for them to be a focus...

...but there's still plenty of time left for them to become truly huge and awesome. It's nice to snapshot what they look like at different times during the year.

Putting Musa basjoo to sleep

>> Monday, December 12, 2016 – bananas, overwintering

It's that time of year when I, in 5 minutes, drastically change the look of my back garden.

Sadly, it is time to prepare the hardy bananas (Musa basjoo) for the winter.

Bananas and Beans

>> Friday, November 11, 2016 – bamboo, bananas, castor bean, vines

One last look before the freezing temps come in at the bananas and beans in my garden this year.

By bananas I mean Musa basjoo, the hardy banana that I mulch each year and which comes back bigger and stronger each growing season.

Looking up, things are?

>> Tuesday, October 18, 2016 – bamboo, bananas, castor bean, foliage

I've been having trouble coming up with post topics lately. I don't want to repeat myself too much, so showing you the bamboo or the castor beans or the bananas or the vines, well, it just doesn't seem right.

Then I thought: why not show you all of them from a different perspective, one that you might get if you were standing here with me? So today's photos are all taken looking straight up! (Or pretty much so.)

More of the back garden

>> Wednesday, August 31, 2016 – bananas, castor bean, foliage, vines

A couple of days ago I showed you the garden around the patio area, how it's been growing like crazy this summer with very little attention from me. I'll show you more of the back yard now, focusing on the area to the south of the patio.

The house and deck are to the left, and this wall of foliage hides the pergola and patio. There's a lot going on here, and this may not be the best view of it.

Bananas

>> Monday, June 27, 2016 – bananas, foliage

Last week I posted some photos of the side garden that included some shots of the hardy bananas, Musa basjoo. Technically they are in the back garden, but since you can see them in the long view along the side of the house I tend to think of them in the side garden too.

Since there was some excitement about them (okay, one comment, but I'm easily guided into post topics these days) I thought I'd post an update.

Friday Miscellany

>> Friday, June 10, 2016 – agastache, bananas, blooms, clematis

Again, the end of the week brings a scattering of topics and photos. Let's start with the clematis that I can't remember the name of:

Finally flowering a bit this year, loving the different look and feel of this one! (It's Clematis tibetana var. vernayi 'Orange Peel' -- I looked it up. So glad I post regularly...)

Wednesday Vignette: Hope

>> Wednesday, March 23, 2016 – bananas, overwintering, Spring

Spring for most people is a sure thing: a time when the weather warms up, blooms start appearing, and everything greens up. To a gardener though I think that Spring is less certain. We know it is coming -- some years more quickly than others -- but there is a fair amount of hope, surprise, and even disappointment along the way.

Today's vignette (brought to you by Anna at Flutter and Hum) illustrates "hope" in the form of my hardy bananas (Musa basjoo). They've never failed to come back each year, but after removing the thick mulch of leaves it's always a mess under there.

Finally putting the bananas to sleep

>> Monday, December 21, 2015 – bananas, overwintering

Although temperatures still don't have me concerned -- it's just been so mild, just barely getting below freezing a few nights -- I figured that it was time to get the Musa basjoo banana ready for winter.

I've just left it alone so far, except for the effort I went through to save the leaves that will insulate it.

One last look: castor beans

>> Thursday, November 19, 2015 – bananas, canna, castor bean, color, grasses, papyrus

With the first hard freeze expected Saturday evening, I thought give you one last look at the stars of my late-season garden: the castor beans (Ricinus communis).

Also papyrus and a little canna, because they also impressed me so much this year. I'm glad that I was able to enjoy them until almost the end of November (an extra three or four weeks this year), but I'll miss them for the next nine months or so -- the castor beans won't be impressive until late July at the earliest.

My solution

>> Thursday, November 12, 2015 – bananas, overwintering

Yesterday I wrote about my dilemma with regard to the bananas and my leaves. Most of the suggestions in the comments were in line with what I was thinking already...

...so today I'm showing you what my solution was.

My dilemma

>> Wednesday, November 11, 2015 – bananas, overwintering

I've got a problem this year. It involves the maple leaves that currently blanket half of my front yard.

The problem is that I don't know what to do with them. Rake them up sure, but then what?

Briefly, what I love about late summer

>> Tuesday, September 1, 2015 – bananas, canna, castor bean, elephant ears, grasses

This might be my favorite time of the year in the garden!

I don't have time to say much, but here are some of the reasons why this is so...

Lots of little things

>> Tuesday, June 2, 2015 – bamboo, bananas, foliage, pond

Just like in the garden, many little things to look at today, starting with the front water barrel which is having some trouble getting into shape this year:

Pretty, but pH is off I think based on the color of the the floating frogbit which you can just see a leaf of at the right edge of the frame. It should be green, not red.

Bananas and Oranges

>> Tuesday, October 28, 2014 – autumn, bald cypress, bananas, color

Both are fruits that you won't be seeing in my garden, but the combination of the Musa basjoo hardy banana leaves and the orange fall colors of the bald cypress Taxodium distichum make this corner of the garden such a happy place on a sunny autumn day!

With a temperature in the mid-80's (29ºC) yesterday, it seemed much more like banana weather than autumn, but I'll take every sunny day I can get when the bald cypress starts to change color!

Quiet Banana Plant Morning

>> Thursday, September 4, 2014 – bananas

A couple of new leaves just unfurled on the Musa basjoo, and they caught the morning sun so well...

...I just had to share.

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