Rupert (W.Yorkshire) wrote:

Thanks for sharing that most useful info. It could be worse-your
Cardiocrinums and Bamboo could both be flowering as well as the Bananas.

Well, I don't do Cardicrinums - they wouldn't look quite right here and
bamboos just don't do it for me at all. Well, maybe Chusquaea couleou
and one or two odd-ball types, but I have to weigh up how much I like
something with how much space is available. Come to think of, I don't
go a bundle on most grasses either ... except Setaria palmifolia
(magnificent, wonderful, superb etc etc. but a bit tender) and at a
push, the variegated Arundos (bamboo-like, but with bigger, better
leaves). Yankee prairie grasses leave me cold and 'prairie plantings'
incorporating them much colder still. I digress as usual....

If you shift the trunks up here I can guarantee that they will turn to mush
just like mine do each winter.

Yeah and what a slimy mess too! It's a nightmare if the juice gets on
a shirt as well - stains it indelibly. I now keep 'nana-shirts', for
working in, especially if I'm trimming the leaves etc.

Will the crossed seed germinate and what might it produce?

Well, the progeny could be very interesting. A more exotic, slightly
less hardy, but far more vigorous basjoo with a bit more colour? Maybe
a more slender growing sikki that is hardier, maybe anything else or a
batch of worthless runts. Who knows it's anyone's guess as to what
might happen. I've got a batch of hybrid Hedychiums I crossed last
year and each one could be a stunner or all could be a waste of time
and space. I have a couple of years before I find out. In the mean
time, I have to keep making more in case the first batch is duff and
the really good one doesn't pop up for until several attempts have been
made. It could be the same with the Musa, but more difficult because
getting the flowers of both species to sychronise with sufficient time
left in the year for the seeds to mature is not easily arranged.

Phew you can't imagine how difficult it is to respond to this whilst
listening to Rimsky Korsakov at full pelt. Nuff - 'The Festival in
Baghdad' wins!