arctic, thank you for sharing your pics and your knowledge. Your photos inspired me to get my first Ensete maurelli last year. I've never grown a banana before and I wasn't sure what to expect the first year from a TC start, so I potted it. Wanted to make sure nobody stepped on the wee thing. I kept it awake this winter, since it still fits in a 10" pot. I've only got one unshaded south window, and the banana dominates it. I've enjoyed looking up at those leaves while the snow flies outside. I think this summer I'll plant it in the ground. Time to get some size on this critter. Will small Ensetes survive a long dormancy? I live in a small apartment and have lots of other plants. But I'd love to get another one... or two...

Hey Shauna. Could you actually see Cameron in there? I've got better ones. Anyway I ordered through Saskatoon Farm because I was looking for seedlings rather than more mature plants because I spent so much on the wall and the soil & mulch that's all I could afford LOL. If you know of other places I'd love to hear about them. I'd also like to know where you order annual and perennial seeds. At the back where I'm wanting the fence to disappear I've got two existing Crapapples, and two immense Griffin Poplars and last year added a good sized Thunderchild Crabapple and a Mayday. My sticks this year are Pincherry, Dogwood, Sandcherry - not purple leaf, Highbush cranberry, Alpine currant, Cotoneaster, Lodgepole pine (at the side with the spruce), Amur maple, Sugar maple for trees & shrubs and I still desperately want a 'Toba' Hawthorn and a Scotch Pine plus I added some Dropwort and Meadowsweet I grew from seed. I'd really like to get my hands on some Goatsbeard. In amongst the boulders themselves a few nesting spruce, blue star juniper, horizontal juniper and mugo pine, and for perennials some 'Waterfall' campunula, cranesbill geranium, yarrow, coral bells, rockcress, shepherds scabiosa, lamium, Gentiana 'Nikita Blue', penstemon and bergenia for now. I'll want to start some creeping phlox and haven't thought about anything else yet as I'm thinking I still need a few smaller rocks - about a couple of feet to hold parts of that slope and to plant around. Whew! I did all that? Kate

I'd think that if you can prune them back like this it's just a matter of how big a plant you want in the house all winter.Cut it as big or small as you want and depending on the container size it shouldn't grow too big until you put it out in the spring either in the ground or in a pot. Here is a link that might be useful: pruning chiles

Bella rosa, if a jug seems to be drying out put several inches of warm water in a large container and set the jug or other seed container in the water and leave it for awhile so the mix can dampen. Try to do this anytime the containers are starting to dry out. One way to tell is if the container starts to feel lighter. I prefer Pro Mix but also use Miracle Grow without the moisture retaining crystals. Those crystals keep the mix too damp. Also if it rains a lot I will cover the containers with plastic sheeting so the mix doesn't get soaked. Works best when the mix is damp but not soaked. Failure to germinate can be caused by lots of variables. Mix is too dry or too wet. Tiny seeds covered with too much mix (best to surface sow and press seed to contact with mix), old seed, unripe seed, seed needing scarification, seed needing cold stratification, seed needing light to germinate so must not be covered with mix, seed needing dark to germinate so must be covered, seed needing two winters to germinate, seed germinating sporadically (columbine), seed needing a warm period then a cold period to germinate. I mostly surface sow and press the seed with the back of a plastic spoon to make contact with the mix. Bigger seeds generally get covered lightly with mix and pressed. When the weather gets in the mid 70s I remove the covers so the seed doesn't cook. They will need to be watched closely so the mix doesn't dry out. Moving to a shaded or partly shaded location helps. i am still ws annuals. Our last frost date is May 15 and I will direct sow some other annuals then. 2016 results: we have had a few days 20 degrees above normal, around 70F, still only have four containers (out of approximately 50) germinated and one of those is a container of delphiniums sowed 2014-2015 season. Thought I had some good germination in a couple of jugs then realized the seeds germinating were sunflower seeds. Some critter must have hidden some bird seed in my mix in the garage. So it goes!