{"id":195,"date":"2010-07-08T15:50:00","date_gmt":"2010-07-08T19:50:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2010\/07\/08\/growing-hardy-banana\/"},"modified":"2017-12-16T16:31:55","modified_gmt":"2017-12-16T21:31:55","slug":"growing-hardy-banana","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2010\/07\/08\/growing-hardy-banana\/","title":{"rendered":"Growing Hardy Banana"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_ZzNIw3ADWQo\/THlPpeUkhrI\/AAAAAAAAAT4\/gygKd1HRPKI\/s1600\/DSC_0505.JPG\"><img decoding=\"async\" id=\"BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5510523192997086898\" class=\"alignleft\" style=\"text-align: center; margin: 0px auto 10px; width: 320px; display: block; height: 214px; cursor: hand;\" src=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_ZzNIw3ADWQo\/THlPpeUkhrI\/AAAAAAAAAT4\/gygKd1HRPKI\/s320\/DSC_0505.JPG\" alt=\"\" border=\"0\" \/><\/a>\u00a0Hardy banana (<em>Musa basjoo<\/em>) survives winters as far north as New England and Ontario, Canada (USDA Zones 5-10). It is a herbaceous perennial which grows to 6-14&#8242; tall. Its roots, when heavily mulched, survive winter temperatures of -10 degrees F. Grow hardy banana in compost rich, well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade. Feed with a 3-6 month slow-release fertilizer supplied in early spring.<\/p>\n<p>In the southern Appalachian region (USDA zones 6-7) hardy banana produces enormous 3-4 foot long leaves which gives any garden a tropical look. Give banana plants lots of space. By late summer, the large tropical leaves cast lots of cooling shade over a nearby patio or low deck . Fruit and off-white flowers are not formed because our growing period is not long enough.<\/p>\n<p>If grown in containers, use a well-drained potting soil mix. Keep the container soil evenly moist, but never saturated. Reduce water and no fertilizer applications as winter approaches. In USDA Zones 5-8, store plant(s) and the container in a non-freezing area indoors over the winter months to protect the tender roots.<\/p>\n<p>Plant roots become more aggressive over the years. Established plants produce numerous shoots, called \u201cpups\u201d. Older plants form large colonies, consuming more and more garden space each year.<\/p>\n<p>Site your banana in a partially sheltered area away from high winds, which may tear the large leaves. Hardy banana has no serious insect or disease problems.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u00a0Hardy banana (Musa basjoo) survives winters as far north as New England and Ontario, Canada (USDA Zones 5-10). It is a herbaceous perennial which grows to 6-14&#8242; tall. Its roots, when heavily mulched, survive winter temperatures of -10 degrees F. Grow hardy banana in compost rich, well-drained soil in full sun to partial shade. Feed [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=195"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10353,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/195\/revisions\/10353"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=195"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=195"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=195"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}