Demise of the Banana Tree Forest

Several years ago my darling daughter gave me a new banana tree that was reported to do well in this climate.  We had grown banana trees for years and every fall we put them in the crawl space.  They did well in pots but had to be protected from the frost.

 The new variety does not have to be put up in the winter.  This is what it looks like now:

Since we are always experimenting in the Experimental Garden the first few years we cut the plants off at the ground, before the first frost, mulched them, and they came back, year after year.  Last year we waited until the first frost killed the plants off, then we cut them down.  And they came back anyway.

Here is the team cutting them down on Oct. 29th before the first frost.

One more experiment.  This year we are leaving two trunks after removing the leaves.  The hope is the trunks will sprout leaves next spring and not have to start from the ground up.  Stay tuned.

I miss them already.