{"id":485,"date":"2005-10-09T16:07:17","date_gmt":"2005-10-09T21:07:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/192.168.1.5\/gardens\/gardenlog\/?p=485"},"modified":"2017-07-17T19:02:37","modified_gmt":"2017-07-18T00:02:37","slug":"musa-lasiocarpa","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/plant-highlights\/musa-lasiocarpa\/","title":{"rendered":"Musa lasiocarpa"},"content":{"rendered":"

Dateline: 2005-10-09<\/strong>
\nAfter flowering for two summers, the mother plant died. Slowly its stalk rotted away and the pups (some of which were full-grown plants by this time) began to fall away from the center.<\/p>\n

\"photo:
2005-07-28. Even in late July, the blue-green banana leaves looked crisp and fresh. They never turned brown or wilted like the brighter green canna. However the number of pups was getting out of hand.<\/i><\/p>\n

As today was the second of two perfect fall days, I decided it was time to dig up and replant the pups. I soaked the ground thoroughly to make it easier to get through the hardened clay. Then AJM and I began digging around the perimeter and trying to prize up the mass by getting the fork under the roots. The whole mass is fleshy and breaks easily. All we succeeded in doing is snapping the top of the banana plants off the roots.<\/p>\n

In the end it was a banana tree massacre. A score of large banana trees lay rootless on the ground. Half a dozen smaller ones came away with a little bit of root. And what about the roots? If I replant them, will new pups spring up? Are banana trees like Tradescantia<\/i> in this respect. I’ll try it and see and report back.<\/p>\n

I was very depressed after destroying my banana plants. I had to keep telling myself that they were all going to fall over and die anyway and they had outgrown the space and were crushing the plants near them. Still, there’s a big empty spot in the garden where once was the most beautiful green.<\/p>\n

I started with one and I have more than one now. If even one pulls through the winter, all will have worked out in the end.
\n
\nDateline: 2003-10-06<\/strong>
\nThe Musa lasiocarpa, now in its third year, has settled into the garden, produced scores of offsets, and is now beginning to flower. The inforescence is opening slowly. I haven’t noticed the scent, yet; although I read it was deeply scented.<\/p>\n

Dateline: 2002-06-13<\/strong>
\nI don’t know what came over me last October when I bought this banana plant fro. Barton Springs Nursery for $4.99. Winter was around the corner and the banana had been marked down. I’ve never really cared for tropical plants, least of all bananas. They invoke unpleasant memories of my childhood in sweltering heat of the Philippines. Here in Austin, tropicals can be grown, but they require a lot of supplemental water. Every few years we get a really hard freeze that will kill them off. And large leaves are often made ragged by bugs, wind, and summer hailstorms. Given all of this, I have no idea what possessed me.<\/p>\n

But I bought this banana plant and put in a pot. Its leaves browned and it went dormant. But when the weather hit the 80s again, it started putting out huge new leaves and hasn’t stopped. Quite a few baby banana plants (called pups) have sprouted at the base of the plant. Someday it is supposed to produce a deep yellow and highly scented flower (inflorescence) that will open like an artichoke globe over several months.<\/p>\n

The May 2002 issue of the RHS The Garden<\/strong> magazine had an article on banana plants. My banana. (formerly, Musella lasiocarpa), should be root hardy to 20 degrees with winter protection. Because it only grows to about 5 feet, the RHS recommends it as the best potted banana for a patio.<\/p>\n

I think I’m going to need a bigger pot soon.<\/p>\n

\"photo:<\/p>\n

Photo: Musa lasiocarpa.<\/p>\n

Dateline: 2002-10-22<\/strong>
\nNot quite ping-pong ball-sized hail at midnight this morning shredded the leaves of the banana. Until now, it has withstood rains storms and wind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"photo:
2003-10-06. Musa lasiocarpa in flower. Austin, Texas. (Update: The flower closed up during the winter and then reopened throughout 2004. It finally died in early summer of 2005.)<\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[14],"tags":[530,321],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=485"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5291,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/485\/revisions\/5291"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.zanthan.com\/gardens\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}