hybridpower

Good evening everyone!

Great to finally post something here after ages of just cruzing through. I'm a transplant to Phoenix Az, and working to make my yard my own wonderful space.

I got fully hooked on bananas just over a year and a half ago, when I saw a small ensete maurelii at a nursery and had to take it home. From that point I've aquired and have begun growing: dwarf cavendish, ice cream (probably the fake), raja puri, goldfinger, saba, zabrina, and of course the ensete maurelii that started it all (though that tiny little 1 gallon maurelii is now about 6.5' tall!).

My largest bananas currently are my raja, and ice cream and I've begun the search for plants to complete my "tropical" yard.

Many of these bananas are about to encounter their first real Phoenix summer, and I hope they make it! I've considered covering them, but I think I've decided against it. Part of me say's "see what makes it" and make that plant the dominant one in the yard. We'll see if I can stick to that though, as I really do love my plants!

Anyway, looking forward to chatting with you all.

Happy planting!

Yug

Say Hi to Sheriff Joe for me.

hybridpower

LOL, I'll see what I can do.

harveyc

Do you know Sheriff Joe???

Are you familiar with the California Rare Fruit Growers? There is an Arizona chapter and I've gone down there a couple of times. Doug Jones has a lot of bananas at his place on the south side of Phoenix (I think, hard to keep track of where I was at when riding in the back seat of a car) and Tall Namwah has proven to be his favorite after many years of growing. Many of his bananas are in a huge greenhouse but he and some of the others there did also grow them outside just fine. Good luck!

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hybridpower

I've heard there is a chapter here, but am not overly familer with the asssociation. I'll have to look it up.

So far the raja and the ice cream (namwah probably) are seeming to love the heat and have really taken off, and the raja is starting to pup. I've got the maurelii and zabrina in filtered light from other trees, and they've been very happy there too. The zabrina seems to dislike the sun, and actually "bleachs" the color out of the leaves when grown in the sun here.

The goldfinger initally burned to the ground, litterally. Lost all it's leaves and the main psudostem died off. I left the corm in the ground, and a few months ago, it sprouted about 6 new pups that are now about 1.5' tall each, and seemingly sun resistant (they no longer burn).

The saba was slow to wake up after winter, but just pushed it's first big leaf of the summer and is on it's way to anouther.

The DC are funny. I have one in the front of the house in filtered light, and it burned when I put it in, and one in the back in full sun (all day), plus reflected light from the pool and it never burned once! It as 4 or 5 good pups around it already.