We left our collection of Musa basjoo (the common green banana) in our last garden. However, the wonderful exotic leaves were greatly missed and in the spring of 2015, having searched the internet, I managed to find a guy who was emigrating and needed to sell his Musa basjoo and a red Abyssinian banana. They were both in pots, but I soon had them planted in the garden. The Musa basjoo, after some coaxing, started growing well and made 4 decent trunks before the end of the season.
But it was without doubt the Abyssinian banana that stole the show! With regular feeding, this monster was producing a leaf measuring anything up to 6 feet every week or so! By the end of the season it was well over 10 feet tall.
This banana is tender and cannot take any frost. In theory, it should be dug up or kept in a pot in a frost-free shed or greenhouse. However, I had to leave it in the ground.
How to protect your banana tress from frost:
Cut the leaves off.
Pack around the trunk with straw and fleece before wrapping with hessian.
Place a good 2 feet of bark chippings around the base of the trunk. This should keep the frost out and, hopefully, the first leaves should come through when we take the protection off in late spring.