Musa ornata 'Bronze' Banana

Product Details:

Ships late May 2010.

Musa ornata 'Bronze'- A majestic plant 5 to 9 feet with light green leaves and stems with pink overtones. The plant will reach its upper limit of growth when planted in the ground in warm climates. The plants growth will be limited to the lower growth range when planted in a container, given less light, and grown in cooler climates. Produces a beautiful orange-bronze inflorescence. A magnificent ornamental plant for small areas and containers. Landscape only, fruit is not edible.

Banana leaves, pseudostem (trunk)and fruiting stem (raceme) grow from the underground rhizome (or pseudobulb's) top surface and the roots grow from the lower surface of the rhizome. The fleshy stems sheathed with huge broad leaves can grow from 2 to 35 feet in as little as 1 year, depending on variety and growing environment. Each pseudostem produces one flower cluster, which develops fruit, then dies. In addition each parent banana plant during its life cycle, will produce as many as 10 suckers which grow into new plants. New pseudostems then grow from the rhizome.

Bananas grow best in a uniformly warm environment and need 9 to 15 months of frost-free conditions to produce a flower stalk. In the subtropics, fruit ripens in 2-3 months. In cooler climates it may take several weeks longer to ripen. Plant growth stops when temperatures drop to 57°F. Stokes Tropicals' Banana Blend (6-2-12) is the best fertilizer source for these fascinating tropical giants.