Growing Banana Shrub in Zone 6A
dave11
12 years ago
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mainegrower
12 years agodave11
12 years agoRelated Discussions
Michelia skinneriana(banana shrub)Zone7a
Comments (3)Kandhi, We are in northern-most central Alabama. A friend has a Michelia/Banana Shrub on the south side of his house with tall pine shade at midday. It is 15-20 years old and 8 feet tall. We have had a few degrees below zero in that time. I rooted a cutting of M. skinneri last year but will keep it in cold frames until 3 or 4 gallons in size. Larger plants, well mulched, can recover from the roots even if frozen back. Camellias die back to the ground here every twenty years or so. They always recover. I plant risky things in the spring so they can get established before freezing. We can now grow huge Banana trees (Musa) outdoors now. Same for evergreen Clematis armandii. Climate warming or a fluke? Banana shrub seedlings may vary in hardiness. Thats a trait worth watching for. There is a southeastern hardy plant society that focuses on these things. Mike519...See MoreAdvice on plants for foundation bed in zone 6a
Comments (17)Welcom, Soxi! Thanks for posting the photos; they really help. I would agree with those that suggested that you plant on both sides of your entry sidewalk. Your walkway will go through the garden instead of being the edge of the garden. Over the years, I've yet to make a garden too wide, but I've often had to widen them. I've also had to whack things away from the house so it could be painted, so I'd suggest leaving a minimum of 2-3 feet between where the plant's width will be at 10 years (the usual info given for mature size, though most will get larger) and the house. I also don't like the look of plants lined up - I prefer having layers of plants, and I include bulbs, shrubs, vines and perennials to provide a longer season of interest, so bed depth is needed for that. I try to include at least some hardscape (like a trellis, birdbath, etc) or evergreens in most of my gardens so that there is some visual interest between when the first frost kills most of the foliage and when everything is buried in snow (or in years like last year with little snow, for most of the winter.) As Mad Gallica mentioned, often this period is several months of the year, so anything I can do to make March and November and any other snowless months less dismal outside, is all to the good. This isn't a foundation bed, but this could be done on a smaller basis in a your beds. A good chunk of its interest is year-round, and the evergreens and trellises add interest as background and support for the flowers in the growing season as well as providing all the interest during the 6 or 7 months in the non-growing season. From December 2010 In laying out the shape of the beds, be sure that they are easy to mow - don't make those inner curves too tight. I use the black plastic edging buried up to the top bead just outside of the bricks which edge my beds; the grass hides it and it keeps the grass from growing between the bricks. The lawnmower wheels run on the bricks and the blade misses the plastic edging, so a separate pass to edge the bed isn't needed. While I don't find the plastic aesthetically pleasing, it does reduce maintenance without being too obvious. Here's a photo of a bed edged this way, and you really can't see the plastic. From June 5, 2012 As a relative beginner to gardening, it's easy to get caught up in just the flowers, but also try to think about foliage. Varied leaf shape, color, and texture will add to the appeal of your garden even when there isn't a lot in bloom. Check to see if any of your plants have nice autumn colors. Try to plant so that you have at least some plants in bloom all through the season as well. The annuals will help with that, but also try to spread out your shrub and perennial bloom....See Morethe best 'hardy' palm tree for zone 6a
Comments (55)Hi Treeguy. What part of WNY are you in? I'm in Rochester NY (City NW) and am growing Musa Basjoo, Musa Sikkimensis, and Musella Lasiocarpa in-ground. I was told that the Sikki and the Musella would have to be dug up over winter, but I left them in-ground very covered up in mulch and they're doing great. This was their first winter here. MY palms are all in pots and while not in-ground, they ARE in an unheated porch out back. Monitored temps dipped as low as low 20's some nights with usual highs in the upper 30's/low 40's. There was a brief super-cold spell where the lows read in the teens, but daytime highs were 30's. My palms are T. fortunei, T. wagnerianus, T. takil, T. latisectus (everyone expects this one to die, so I'm thinking about mailing it to a cousin south), and two Butia capitata. The pots aren't insulated or anything, so I was lucky.... but they lived. I can't plant in-ground until I buy a home, but I'm definitely planning on it. I have waggies which I germinated from seeds and they spent winter out in that shed too, but I brought them in during the cold spell....See MorePool landscaping ideas - Zone 6a
Comments (4)A few general considerations first. IME shrubs are less work than the majority of perennials as long as you look up the mature width (rather than just what the tag says) on a reliable site such as the Missouri Botanical Garden’s Plant Finder and plant accordingly so pruning isn’t needed. Regardless of what you choose, have repetition of at least some of the plants to provide cohesion, either by repeating a particular large plant several times down the row, or having large grouping of several kinds of plants, or even having a fronting row of a lower perennial such as Nepeta/catmint (sun) or an overall groundcover such as Veronica ‘Georgia Blue’ which is happy in full sun or full shade. I would also make the bed deep enough so that there is a gap between the plants and the fence at maturity for ease of maintenance. If you allow enough depth for a couple of rows of plants such as one of shrubs and one of bulbs and easy care perennials, you can have a really long season of interest. Here is a winter photo of one of my beds that is a mixed shrub bed , though much larger and denser than you want. It shows the first type of plant repetition, with evergreens that really stand out in winter, each kind in several spots down the bed. Some of the large perennials that repeat can also be seen in their winter shades of gray and tan. Here is a link to a perennial garden that repeats, both groups of the same plants as well as repeating similar flower colors in different plants. It would take more maintenance to do this with perennials as illustrated here, but the concept of repetition will work regardless. [https://www.houzz.com/photos/clamshell-alley-rustic-landscape-portland-maine-phvw-vp~20985226[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/clamshell-alley-rustic-landscape-portland-maine-phvw-vp~20985226) The link below repeats the same 4 plants in a pattern down the whole row. [https://www.houzz.com/photos/garden-spaces-traditional-landscape-new-york-phvw-vp~3417617[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/garden-spaces-traditional-landscape-new-york-phvw-vp~3417617) For plants, Consider some of the panicled hydrangeas such as Little Lime or Little Quickfire, both of which will get to around 5’-6’ in about 5 years in good soil in my part of the US, though I don’t know where you are. If you want something larger or smaller, there are other varieties such as Limelight which reaches 9’ or Bobo which shouldn’t exceed 4’. Bloom is long with the QF and Bobo starting in early July and LL and Limelight about 3 weeks later and continuing for the rest of the growing season here. In my NH garden they are fine in all day sun, though at high elevation or farther south than New England they prefer some shade in the hottest part of the day. If you want some colored foliage, ninebark/Physocarpus has some smaller types such as Tiny Wine with deep reddish foliage and pinkish-white flowers and ornamental reddish seed capsules. They all have a somewhat weeping or mounding shape but vary in size and foliage color- red or green or gold. Gold foliaged ‘Ogon’ Spiraea has white flowers and a slightly weeping shape. if you will be viewing this from indoors in winter, add at least a couple of plants with winter interest such as a the red twigged, variegated leafed dogwood shrub Cornus Ivory Halo or a smaller evergreen that won’t exceed about 6’, perhaps one of the smaller cultivars of false cypress/Chamaecyparis. One option to consider for fastening to the fence is the climbing rose Zephirine Drouhin which has scented pink flowers and is virtually thornless. Mine has had healthy foliage for the 5 years I have had it in my garden with no maintenance other than a spring pruning and fastening it to its trellis. I have emphasized summer interest plants, but you can add spring flowering shrubs that have fall color which as one of the smaller Viburnum plicatum such as popcorn or Newport/‘newzam’ or Fothergilla. You could also underplant the shrubs or perennials with spring bulbs such as Crocus or daffodils....See Moreken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years agoEmbothrium
12 years agodave11
12 years agoken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
12 years agoEmbothrium
12 years agoflora_uk
12 years agobrandon7 TN_zone7
12 years agojay_7bsc
12 years agoEmbothrium
12 years agobrandon7 TN_zone7
12 years agoUser
6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoUser
6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoUser
6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoUser
6 years agodavidrt28 (zone 7)
6 years agolast modified: 6 years agoUser
6 years ago
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ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5