Growing (or going?) Bananas!

We are always up for trying new plants here at Wicked Raven.  We have grown grapes, mandarins, lemons and Reed wanted to try the dwarf bananas from Farmers Nursery.  We ordered three plants since they were a bundle item that came in a three pack.  We gave two of them away to friends and planted the other one.

Here it is at about two months old (or two months after we got it).  That is a 10" pot we started it out in in the same window as the mandarin tree that I blogged about a few months ago.

We didn't think too much about how it would do really, the literature that came with it said it was hardy to Zone 4 but we are a solid Zone 2 so we planned on not having it outside.  It said it should get to about 6' tall.

Here it is at 3 years old!  It is 6' tall and it is in a pot that is three feet across at the top!   It makes a great green oasis in the living room with some of the other plants and trees that we have.  It has not produced any bananas yet - we are still wondering how that will work, but it is a beautiful palm tree and it has produced something:

That is what appears to be a tiny new banana tree coming up along side the big one!  I may be reporting at a later date that we have transplanted it to another pot - there is certainly not enough room in this pot for both to get as big as the big tree.  During spring break coming up I will be researching how to go about separating these two and how to get some bananas to grow on the tree.  Stay tuned for the results and don't be afraid to try something new in your space!