It looks as though at least some fruit have set on Musa sikkimensis
that started flowering here a while back. In view of our very long
growing season here in S. Devon, there's a reasonable chance of
ripening. However, because of its seed content, it is unlikely to be
classed as a desert variety. In any case, I'm more interested in the
seeds since if they are viable the resultant plants will be hybrids
with Musa basjoo, which has been flowering here since early April.

Brian, the only true banana that is certain to survive in your region
is Musa basjoo, which is now very widely planted in gardens throughout
much of mainland UK. As someone who has had what is almost a mass-
flowering of bananas over the past couple of years, I can assure you
such a seemingly momentous event is not particularly a good thing from
a gardening point of view. Musas look ravishing when growing well,
but a wonderful nay magnificent clump of lush, tropical foliage is
rapidly reduced to an unholy and hideous mess the moment flowering
commences. One flowering shoot is bad enough, but if you are unlucky
to get several at more or less the same time then it's a gardening
catastrophe.

Being a huge herbaceous perennial (not a tree - there are no woody
parts) it produces a shoot, which flowers and then that shoot dies,
more or less like Michaelmas Daisies or Delphiniums. Like them new
shoots will arise to replace those that have flowered. Unlike your
everyday border perennials, once flowering is completed, you are left
with ruddy great, slowly and slimily decomposing 'trunks' of dying
leaf sheathes that can be anything up to 14 feet high and nearly 2ft.
in diameter at the base. Try composting that little lot! In my case
I've had 8 deal with in just 18 months. Most have now been cut away,
but there are still another 3 waiting for me to garner the time,
energy and inclination. The 'holes' they leave take some filling
too.

By all means plant a basjoo or if your garden is reasonably sheltered
you might try Musa sikkimensis provided you are prepared to give some
protection in winter. However, for goodness sake don't look forward
to, or encourage them to flower. Enjoy them for their leaves, which
are fabulous and when you hear or read of someone else boasting about
their nanas flowering, breathe a big sigh of relief that it hasn't
happened to yours. Yet!