The Time Is Ripe for Bananas, Ginger
Bananas and gingers are two decidedly tropical-looking plants that we can grow in Southern California. Every gardener should give both a try, even if only in a container.
Nurseries tend to shy away from tropical plants because they have been out of fashion for so long. There was a time when every Southern California garden looked a little tropical, and when a few gardens looked like jungles. Newcomers delighted in growing the most exotic things, and bananas and gingers headed their list. Now, if you can’t find them at nurseries (at this time of year you get your best shot), consider begging a start from someone else--bananas and gingers are ridiculously easy to start from the side shoots each make.
The exceptions are the Abyssinian bananas. These are the biggest of the bunch and are easily recognized because they grow as a single spectacular plant, without any side shoots. Ensete ventricosum is the tallest of the Abyssinian bananas (easily growing to 15 feet) and has huge green leaves; sitting under one is like being under the big top. Ensete “Maurelli” has maroon leaves and is a little more squat. It is most often called the red banana, and is perhaps the easiest to find at nurseries.
It is also a first-class container plant. I kept one in an 18-inch container for years and it never grew taller, or wider, than four feet. It would do much to enliven a balcony garden.
Both of the Abyssinian bananas die after they flower, but this takes at least five years when grown in the ground, much longer in a container. Then they must be replaced.
Other bananas, including the edible kinds, are botanically Musas . They, too, die after flowering or fruiting but are quickly replaced by quantities of side shoots. If most of these side shoots are not removed, they quickly become a jungle. These side shoots are your best chance at getting one of these bananas. They are very easy to cut loose from the parent plant with a sharp spade. Pot them up as soon as possible; take a side shoot that is about two feet tall for the best results.
There are many Musas , including one with maroon-blotched leaves. The most common is unfortunately the least attractive, Musa paradisiaca . This is the tall one that grows around many older homes and it always has shredded leaves. Musa paradisiaca produces fruit, but it is usually starchy or seedy. If you want an edible banana, you’ll have to do some searching. Or join the California Rare Fruit Growers (c/o Fullerton Arboretum, California State University Fullerton, Fullerton 92634), which can help you find a source.
I’ve grown one called the Dwarf Cavendish. It has excellent fruit that tastes and looks like tiny commercial bananas (each banana is about six inches long, but you get a bunch). The banana plant only grew to about six feet with an equal spread, and it was very easy to imagine turning the whole back yard into a plantation. Growing your own bananas is a kick.
Gingers are equally exotic and few things are as easy to grow, but again you will probably have to beg a start from someone. Gingers grow from large, spreading tubers which can be severed from the clump with a sharp spade. Each spring they send up new shoots from these tubers that flower in the fall. In winter the old stalks should be cut to the ground to make way for the new.
Most grow to about six feet tall and they do splendidly in a container, though they tend to stay a little shorter. The most common is the shell ginger ( Alpinia zerubet ). This is a tough plant, different from most in that the stalks persist for many years. The flowers are beautiful and shell-like, creamy on the outside and yellow and orange on the inside, but they are almost hidden in the foliage. The plants are very tall, to eight or even 10 feet.
Most of the other gingers in Southern California are botanically Hedychiums and the flowers are quite visible atop the foliage. Hedychium flavum has creamy yellow, fragrant flowers and H. coronarium is similar, but the flowers are white. H. gardnerianum , the Kahili ginger, has the most spectacular flowers, foot tall spikes of yellow petals with bright red stamens. H. greenei has red flowers, but it is the maroon leaves that make it so decorative.
The edible ginger is Zingiber officinale . It can be grown from the tubers sold at markets though it is very frost sensitive and not very vigorous. It only grows about two feet tall and doesn’t increase much, so ginger farming is not a real possibility in the back yard.
