Post #780449 by Prikli Pear on Tue, Oct 10, 2017 7:24 AM

In theory. I'm not sure if this particular type is edible. This one's parent plant bloomed last winter and while I covered and heated it, the bananas all got cigar end rot and went bad before they were mature. A different banana nearby fruited this summer, but since I'm new to the whole banana thing, I didn't realize they won't normally ripen on the plant. You have to cut them down before they'll get yellow and sweet. So I left them on too long and they started splitting. The ones I rescued were edible but not great. Hard to tell if that's because of the plant or because they were over-mature.

Some people are really into bananas. Check out Bananas.org. I've since gotten blue Java (Ice cream), Rajapuri and two others I can't recall the names of at the moment (from a reputable dealer this time). I'd intended to plant them on the protected south side of our house in a dedicated tropical bed, but never quite got around to it. They're overgrown in their pots, so I need to repot them before sheltering them for winter. Hopefully, I'll get them in-ground come spring.

Regardless of fruit production, they really add to the tropical look. The Japanese Basjoo (fiber banana) produces inedible fruit, but is super cold tolerant and is an in-ground option for folks at least through Zone 7.