Musa

More Information About Musa

Temperate zone gardeners love to grow tropical plants (such as Musa) because they add flair to the garden. With the increasing interest in temperate tropicality we thought it was time to increase our selection of cold hardy banana trees for sale (musa, musella and ensete). Most of the banana plants for sale here at PDN are reliable perennials in Zone 8, with some hardy into the warmer reaches of Zone 7. Our musa selections were chosen not only for cold hardiness, but also for flower, fruit, and leaf color.

As with other hardy tropicals, gardeners should plant musa outdoors before late August in climates north of Zone 8 to ensure establishment before cold weather arrives. From Zone 8 north, we recommend digging musa plants for winter storage or building a wire-constructed, leaf mulch-filled cage around the trunk. One exception to the rule is Musa basjoo, which overwinters here in Raleigh and much farther north with no mulch. The growth rate of a banana tree is phenomenal when plenty of moisture and nutrition are provided. Cold, wet soil in winter, however, can spell death for a banana plant in colder zones.

We hope you want to buy banana plants to bring a little tropicality into your perennial garden. If you see bananas forming on your musa specimen, cut the stem off before freezing weather arrives, place it in a bucket of water in the garage and the bananas will mature indoors. Why buy bananas at the grocery store when you can buy banana trees from us instead? When you are ready to buy musa (banana) trees/plants for your perennial garden, please check out our online list of cold hardy banana tree plants for sale.

Also, check out our in depth article on cold hardy bananas in our articles database.

And check out our article on how to over-winter tropical plants.