Scientific Name:
Ensete ventricosumProduct Details:
Ships bare rooted. 2-3 feet in height.
Ensete ventricosum 'Red Stripe'- A super looking plant with red midrib on underside of leaves. Grows to 20 feet in warm areas. Huge 10 to 15 foot leaves up to 1.5 feet wide. Grows in partial shade to full sun. Makes a good interior specimen when space allows. In Zone 9 rarely reaches 12 feet. Perennial in Zones 9 and higher. Very fast growing and non-clumping. Does not produce suckers!
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.