Hi John, Seeing that you are zone 7, I'd tell you that you're going to have to be careful with the Siam Rubies. I have a dozen banana varieties and they all took 39 degrees for a few hours here in S. Florida a few weeks ago. All came through unscathed except the AeAes and the Siam Ruby. The AeAes had moderate leaf burn, the Siam Rubies looked like someone took a blowtorch to them. Both the green and red leafed looked equally bad. The cold didn't kill them and they're already leafing out again, but they definitely seem to be more cold sensitive.

Funny I should see this post on the Siam Ruby Red. I was recently at a garden center and they had nice-sized bananas for only $5.00. I bought the Musa zebrina and passed on the Siam Red. I could have kicked myself (they also had basjoos, and a few dwarfs--which I have). I do believe that the Siam is rather tender (compared to Orinocos or Himalayans for example). I'm not sure if it would overwinter in your area (mulched and kept dry??). If I had doubt, I'd just lift them before frost and keep them protected over winter. I cut the leaves off mine and just store the rhizome with its trunk (which I also cut down to save space). Or you could pot it up, bring it inside and continue growing as a houseplant--if you have the sun and space! If you let the plant go dormant for the Winter, keep the rhizomes in a mild/dry area (guessing above 50 F). I check them once or twice over the course of the Winter to make sure they don't completely dry out but that's it. Good luck! PS., I had to order one of these beauties this morning!

I have three of these (all young) and I believe mine to be more fragile than most of my others. They are growing well, but I have them in partial shade and somewhat wind protected. My first one taught me that the wind really breaks the leaves very easily. They have coffee grounds in their soil and once a week get manure "tea". All three are red, with the biggest one having one or two freckles of neon green. I thought that was probably from being in mostly shade so that may not be the case if yours are in full sun. Full sun never means full "Texas" sun anyway. How about some pictures? We always love seeing pictures of your stuff. If you haven't been yet you might go over to bananas.org - they have some banana experts over there and have a wealth of information on anything banana and more. ~Jeanann

we were all discussing this on bananas.org and no one has seen one yet or can find a picture of one on the 'net. maybe you'll be the first. Or maybe I will...lol...mine is about 6 feet tall with three pups.