That is very sweet. (I hope he asked his nan's permission before posting it ... and said "please" and "thank you"!)

Your right it wont take the java gel as well as bare wood. You will need to apply toners to the wood to even out the final color. Best is to try and find a piece of same type of wood to do the repairs with.

Got a dining table from CL with a little water damage (only the top color is damaged), which is perfect otherwise. I am planning to use Java gel stain for this table top to cover up the water damage. Can someone who has experience with the gel stain suggest whether it works or not ie., the stain can hide the damage.

"It obviously can grow well here since I bought it locally" Unfortunately, that may be an incorrect assumption :-) All manner of plants may be sold locally that are not fully hardy in that location and Blue Java banana fits that description. At most, it is only root hardy planted in the ground to zone 8a and many sources are hesitant to go below zone 9. You may have been just very lucky to get it to overwinter in your climate......or the winter was very mild. The other issue is this plant needs significant heat during the growing season to flower and fruit. And that you are unlikely to receive in your zone, especially since you are essentially starting over each year. To ensure its survival, I'd recommend growing in a container and then bringing into winter protection at this time of year.