"DavePoole Torquay" wrote in message
ups.com...
Having such a small garden and being an incorrigably impractical
collector, I need as much space for plants as I can find and therefore
don't have room for artificial structural focus. Over the past 7 or 8
years, I've relied upon the hardier bananas to provide this and with
their 3-4m high false stems and even longer leaves, they've done a
splendid job. Two species I use are the common Musa basjoo and the
increasingly popular Musa sikkimensis. Both are good, solidly reliable
and hardy species here that retain their 'trunks' without any
protection at all.

So far, so good. The other day I noticed that a 'trunk' in the basjoo
clump was in flower and by the looks of it, it had been out for a good
few weeks. I'm a bit embarrassed that I failed to notice what was
going on, but excuse myself by saying that the sikkimensis clump is
growing at such a rate and with greater vigour than basjoo - several
leaves had masked the emerging flower spike. The spike BTW emerges
almost horizontally and is somewhat thicker than a broom-handle. The
clusters of flowers are white-ish, borne in rows at the base of very
large, somewhat inflated and leathery bracts that are dull brownish on
the outside and faded ochre within. The bracts form a large bud at the
tip of the flower spike and protect the developing flowers.

Now some folks might be pleased to get even a common species such as
basjoo into flower, but it has happened here before and is a relative
non-event since basjoo cannot produce mature fruits unless the flowers
are pollinated. Bananas have separate male and female flowers on the
same spike, but not at the same time. The female flowers always open
first, followed by the males, which continue over many weeks and
sometimes into autumn. Culinary bananas are sterile and fruit without
being pollinated, but many species need a suitable pollinator. Without
a this, the embryonic basjoo fruits cannot develop and they remain
finger-sized, green, fibrous and totally inedible. Since it is
exceptionally rare for a clump to produce two or more flower spikes at
slightly different stages, basjoo never fruits in the UK. So for me
this flowering is more of a pain, because it means that over the
coming months, an important 'trunk' will die away, leaving me with the
headache of disposing of it.

This morning, I was looking at the sikkimensis clump quite closely and
it dawned on me that the reason for a particularly ragged and
undersized set of leaves emerging from the top of the most important
'nana trunk' in the garden was that it too is about to flower.
Whoo-hoo! Crack open the Banrock's Sparkling Shiraz and let's
celebrate. Well, erm not really. This trunk is at the centre of the
clump and its eventual demise will throw the focus of the garden out of
kilter. Of course I was aware that this would happen eventually and
surprised it didn't do so last year. However, to lose two important
trunks in the same year is going to cause me a bit of head-scratching
to say the least.

A small ray of sunshine is that basjoo is likely to pollinate
sikkimensis and since the bees obviously love the flowers, I can let
them do the business for me. If the coming autumn is long and mild
allowing the fruits to ripen, the seeds will yeild hybrids between
basjoo and sikkimensis and the fruits should taste half decent too.
Then I'll celebrate, but in the meantime I have to work out how to
dispose of two massive banana 'trunks', both of which are around 40cms.
in diameter at the base, weigh a ton and will not rot down in a compost
heap for a very, very long time even if shredded.


Thanks for sharing that most useful info. It could be worse-your
Cardiocrinums and Bamboo could both be flowering as well as the Bananas.
If you shift the trunks up here I can guarantee that they will turn to mush
just like mine do each winter.
Will the crossed seed germinate and what might it produce?