I have read about musa basjoo. Apparently, in climates such as zone 6 they cut to a couple of feet near the ground (in fall) and insulate really well and the plant survives winter. I take it as long as the ground doesn't freeze around the roots it survives and the plant seems to get bigger and better each year. Another way to go about it, according to the banana forum, is to cut off some of the leaves and dig up the plant and store in a cold room or crawlspace. It has a corm that can be stored similar to cannas or other bulbs (but you keep the stem attached). Anyways, last spring I started musa esete (Ethiopian Banana) from seed. Grew it in a pot on the deck all summer, and overwintered it in a window indoors. Ideally it should be a sunny window but for me it was a bright north window. I watered very sparingly, in fact it's amazing it didn't droop from lack of water. Now I am trying to adjust the plant back to outdoors on warm days, which are few and far between. As for musa basjoo. I have a couple of plants started from seed. I think this one is more suited for storing in cold storage, but if worse comes to worse I may just grow as a houseplant for the winter. I think providing as good light as you can and watering sparingly goes a long ways. The advantage to overwintering each year as oppose to starting new plants from seed is that they get larger and larger as they mature. Glen

This is a new reply to an old post, but there are native live oaks in the area roughly between Ft. Worth, Abilene, and Wichita Falls, Texas that should work beautifully in your area. For some reason, nobody has developed commercial cultivars from this area. Live oaks, especially along the northern margin of their range, can vary in their characteristics. The ideal would be one with dense foliage that stays dark green all winter on a non-stoloniferous tree that branches With strong crotch angles. For commercial growers, it would probably require two trips to western North Texas—one in February/March to identify trees with the right characteristics, and once again in September/October to collect acorns. Maybe ten years of field trials would be in order after that. Of course this would be more of a long-range project than collecting an annual or perennial, but it could fundamentally change the landscape in Tennessee, Kentucky, and the Eastern Seaboard up to Philadelphia or maybe New York.

Good to hear others Musa Basjoo are doing great. We are getting 30F tonight according to accuweather forecast link on my computer. I have a variety of Live oak that has survived a year in the ground with no protection this past winter, well actually 3 trees of this variety. It is Live oak "late drop" from Mossy oak natives nursery. It is listed as a variety of Quercus Virginiana. The graceful live oak from the south that is my favorite tree in the universe. The one draped with Spanish moss and branches are wide spreading and evergreen. I will be out there before sunrise spraying the leaves before the sun hits them to hopefully stop damage. The tree has already recovered once from frost, I don't want to push my luck again. I have failed at the regular Live oak from down south 3 or 4 times, so this variety is special. I would say I just got lucky but for 3 to do great after failures of reg Live oak, it is the tree being hardier.

joenflowermound, I just joined and i know it's been a 1 1/2 years since your inquiry but for what it's worth i have had banana trees since about 95/96 and my mother tree came from all places from our in laws in tennessee! i have learned a lot since that first tree; one, i have cut them back to within a foot of the ground and i have left them as they were and it didn't matter they came back i have chosen to just leave them as they are pull all the leaves off in early spring lop off about 2 ft and beleive me they will do fine; second, split off as many offshoots as you want in the early spring make sure you use a very sharp cutting tool most people including my self use a sharp shooter make sure you have at least 3 or more roots on the one you remove i know there are some that disagree with this but i have accidently separated one last year without any roots and for funzies i put in a small bucket of water and it grew roots and leafed out!;third, if you want to spend the money for the fancy dancy specilized fertilizer go ahead but i have use the old reliable miracle gro and by mid summer my back yard looks just like the caribean islands (the 3 palm trees help); fourth, by now you have figured it out banana trees love the sun the more the merrier; fifth, i have a sprinkler system and around the palm and banana trees i use soaker hoses and they get watered every 4th day and do great; sixth, the banana tree i have and more than likely you do as well is called a plaintin banana they get about 6" long and for cooking when ready to pick you can split the banana in half (lengthway) smuther in butter, sprinkle sinnamin and sugar on it bake for about 20 minutes at 350 degrees remove the meat from the skin and either eat with a fork or make you a nanner sandwich by the way did you know that when you heard of Elvis Presly eating a nanner sandwich this is what he was eating! we learned while visiting Graceland Elvis was that just about everything Elvis ate was fried! and finally if you wish to learn more contact the 'county extension office' in ft worth and they will send you information on this subject or any other subject dealing with plants in texas if your curious about your soil you can request a soil sampling kit they come in 2 varieties low cost and high cost (it's been over 15 years but the last time i did this it cost me about $15 for the basic and it was about $30 for the more extensive but i imagine it cost a lot more now). I hope this helps oh! one other thing banana trees grown in north texas love high acid soil.