I donated this plant from my own extensive collection this spring. It was about 3 feet tall when Amanda planted it. Clearly it has thrived. Next year, with luck, we can get it up to twelve or fifteen feet. That would be the top of the leaves. I've always suspected that bananas are properly measured, to the growing tip. That would explain why I can grow Basjoo to 18 feet when it's only supposed to get from 10 to 15 feet tall. I don't care; until I'm personally corrected I'm measuring to the top of the plant. To get maximum height, it's necessary to remove the suckers from around the main plant. Or to fertilize and water so much that everybody can reach their maximum potential. You often see large clumps of Basjoo where the main plant tops out at 8 or 9 feet.
Just as
Rhapidaphyllum hystrix is the only palm that's guaranteed to be hardy here in Washington even if you plant it on an exposed slope,
Musa 'Basjoo' is the only banana that I can say I've never lost to winter. I've planted them in November, given them to friends who have brown to black thumbs, had them planted by clients from whom I know they received less than optimal care: never lost one. There are now a bunch (ha ha) of bananas that are considered USDA Zone 6 plants. I'm working on them at home and at work but they tend to require good siting, return so slowly in the spring that they're sort of useless in the landscape, or even die off in our harsher winters. Not Basjoo.
There's one downside to Basjoo that I know of and that it its tendency to droop and wrinkle when the air is dry or windy; even on days of average humidity it tends to sag and look tired in the afternoons when the humidity drops below 50%.
Ensete/Musella lasiocarpa (yesterday), on the other hand, had those smaller, thicker, bluish leaves that remain perfect through pretty much whatever weather happens so long as the plant gets water once in a while. It doesn't get as tall though, and frankly isn't as hardy. So I guess we'll continue to grow both. Plus a few more including
Musa sikkimensis, Ensete glaucum, and a new plant Brads getting next year. Still not enough for a calendar, "Bananas of the Asian Collection", not to be confused with "Girls of the SEC".
I don't remember it being there at all before and now it's, it's, it's taking over. I enjoy watching these explosions where a particular plant will suddenly dominate an area. Joan's yellow Bidens has been threatening to take over the Arboretum and now it would seem to have some competition.
This is a very cool plant that grows in the small pond near the road in the Gotelli Collection. Hey, iti's a cattail so it'll be.....vigorous, but is that such a bad thing?
Jasminum officinale 'Fiona Sunrise', Patrinia scabiosafolia, and Ceratostigma plumbaginoides are coexisting agreeably below the nodding culms of one of our "contained" bamboos. This is thanks to our recent rains and the earlier efforts of our Volunteers. Several months ago they attacked this area which had been a confused collection of weeds and overgrown accessioned plants held together by hundreds of seedling Patrinias. I didn't give much direction and, as I expected, they did an outstanding job of weeding, transplanting, pruning, and general grooming. This week is the payoff.
I donated this plant from my own extensive collection this spring. It was about 3 feet tall when Amanda planted it. Clearly it has thrived. Next year, with luck, we can get it up to twelve or fifteen feet. That would be the top of the leaves. I've always suspected that bananas are properly measured, to the growing tip. That would explain why I can grow Basjoo to 18 feet when it's only supposed to get from 10 to 15 feet tall. I don't care; until I'm personally corrected I'm measuring to the top of the plant. To get maximum height, it's necessary to remove the suckers from around the main plant. Or to fertilize and water so much that everybody can reach their maximum potential. You often see large clumps of Basjoo where the main plant tops out at 8 or 9 feet.
We survived our second earthquake of the past year and a half (ever) Tuesday with no visible damage. It was a 5.8 but the epicenter was 80 odd miles away so we just felt gently nudged back and forth for....way less than half a minute. In the same way that we aren't "snow savvy" in the sense that Maine or Minnesota or Wisconsin are, we aren't "earthquake ready" like say California is. First reports suggest that some older buildings sustained mostly minor damage, though the Washington Monument is closed because of visible cracks. Nothing much seemed to have been affected at the Arboretum, though, along with all other government installations; we closed for the day. Horrible traffic, cell phones inoperable due to overload, and general disorder astronomically out of proportion to the small tremor we experienced no doubt make us look foolish to the Left Coast. Oh well.
Barry Yinger, a past curator of the Asian Collections, collected seeds from this Hosta in 1985 on a collecting trip to Coastal South Korea. It was named for him some years later. This plant is labeled as being from that collection so that's cool. I don't know how many plants we have that were named for past Arboretum staff. I'll have to do research. Or ask Stefan.
When I bought this for a dollar and a half? at the Beltsville Garden Club Spring Plant Sale, it was just a small rooted cutting in a 3" plastic pot. Not knowing exactly what to do with it, I stuck it pot and all, in one of our large mixed bowls on the back deck. I figured it would get enough water to survive and at some point I'd deal with it....Well I forgot completely about it till this week Karen pulled out something and there it was. It had more than doubled in size and was flowering. Go figure.
