What do you do when you have 10 banana trees growing inside your house? Besides get a monkey to help me keep the bananas levels in check??
Hi, I’m Shelayna and I am addicted to tropical plants that can’t survive in our harsh NY winter climate. Since my dining room window receives the most sun it is bombarded with a jungle of trees that would appreciate a life somewhere closer to the equator.
So why 10 banana trees, you may ask? I started with two. Then I thought I had killed them, but they came back to life after I cashed in my warranty. But before all that, my plan was to order 10 fast growing fir trees to hedge my veggie garden from the road. When I realized the tall trees would eventually interfere with the power lines above, I gave up on that purchase. However, my heart was so set on owning trees after browsing Fast Growing Trees website for 2 weeks and the banana trees were calling my name!
Banana trees are pretty cool. They are constantly sprouting pups which is why I now have at least 10 trees. Mind you, before I ‘killed’ the first two, I had already repotted several and gave a couple to my sister who has a bigger plant addiction than I do!
My favorite indoor plant though must be my lemon tree grown from seed. I am so proud of him! No kidding, he is taller than me! And with thorns that are so sharp you’d think you’d fall into a sleeping beauty sleep after getting pricked by it. I have had him growing for more than 7 years now and yet to see fruit. However, I had read that fruit trees love a second tree to encourage growth, so my husband bought me a second lemon tree for Mother’s Day last spring. And just this morning (January 16, 2023) I found flower buds on my smaller tree!!! I am more than ecstatic for what is to come!
One sad story from Shelayna’s chapter of Tropical Plants is, I think I lost my pineapple tree. I had one growing from a crown I cut several years back, and he was beautiful. But while experimenting with a plastic greenhouse during the early days of frost, he swelled up and appeared to give up on life. I replanted him, and nothing looks to be alive though it has been several months. I hadn’t the heart to toss him back out to the cold, so we shall see if spring and time can revitalize him.
I do have another “Brought Back from the Dead” miracle story from another tropical tree I grew from a fruit pit! My avocado tree grew like a weed. He was tall and deep green leafy. My sister wanted to steal him from me a time or two. I thought (prior to having my plastic greenhouse), that I could leave him outside with the rest of the plants for the summer. Foolish me. Our harsh sun burnt him to a crisp. Literally, charred black more than two thirds down the plant. All leaves were lost. After most of the damage was done, I brought him back indoors and cut off the top bringing him down to a lowly 12-inch stick. I wanted to cry. I spent years growing him.
But it wasn’t long before life began to push its way through, and two sprouts shot off both sides of the stick and are growing quite well. I’ve learned my lesson; the avocado tree is a house plant in New York state!
My dream in the next few years is to have a heated greenhouse to support and maintain all my lovely tropical babies and add more to the family. I so want orange trees!! My kids would certainly appreciate my plants being out of the dining room. They can’t tip their chairs without whacking one!
While I do not claim to be an expert in tropical plants, I do love to own lots of them and watch them grow. Repotting banana trees is becoming second nature to me. And when my banana trees start producing, I plan on sharing all the love!
I hope you have enjoyed this ‘little’ snippet on me and my crazy passion. I plan to release a part 2 of my gardening passions later this year. Stay tuned!
