I would not do it if I were you.
There are VERY severe fines for planting ornamental Banana's.
I suppose you could grow the normal variety but in a few years time they will have taken over a large slice of your yard and it's backbreaking work to dig them out. I know been there done that. Not worth the effort.
Ian

Thanks Ian - I thought there were sterile varieties that would not become invasive ? As I said in the initial post, I'd be prepared to pursue whatever permit I needed to plant them - they are in backyards all over Rocky and dont seem to be doing any damage.

Cheers,

Artie

you can get the permit and if you have the right set up you can get permission to grow ornamental bananas - but the DPI reserve the right to inspect your property at any time.

I did a lot of talking to some people at Nambour banana research facility and if you are wiling to put up with the paper work and invasion of your space - go for it.

the link to the dpi banana page is below, and the contact button is the first point of call if you want to try and get permission.

Here is a link that might be useful: dpi going bananas

Thanks paradisi - overall, it would appear that I should steer clear of this particular temptation :)

Artie,

It is a very involved process to get permit to plant banana in QLD. My husband was looking into it, and it is just not worth the effort. You have to specify what type and then how many you have.... They can come inspect your plants to make sure you have the right type and the amount.

But, I can understand why you might like to have them. We have 4 different ornamental variety up here and we love it!! That is probably why we are still up here in the Territory... We just love all the different bananas - ornamental or the eating type.

Regards, Ari :)

It's not really such an involved process to legally acquire one of the fruiting bananas--just seems that way at first glance. You kickstart the process by telephoning or emailing, then filling in the forms posted to you, then arranging for payment and delivery when the plants are available. It takes time, yes, and it's not as simple as just buying a plant from the local nursery, but you can do everything from home. That's been my experience of getting a fruiting banana--can't comment on the ornamental ones, though, because I haven't tried growing them.

And yes, your property can be inspected, but that's true of a lot of other things, eg fire ants.

I'm in a similar position to Ari in there being no restrictions growing ornamental bananas here in Victoria.
I'm enjoying a few of my own down south!
regards
Louis

Given the near total destruction of the Qld banana crop caused by Cyclone Larry, I dont know how keen the Dept of Agriculture would be to anything that threatened the re-establishment of the industry. Growers in other parts of the world must be rubbing their hands together, but I suspect that global warming will make all farming an increasingly risky business.

Anyone know about what's required for the ornamental types in NSW (Mid-North Coast)? I Like the look of them plus the idea of all that bio-mass for compost makes me mouth water!