Hi, We're doing a Tropicals swap over on the Round Robin exchange forum titled "Houseplants/Tropicals/Annuals". Check it out.

Hi Wxman: Your Orinocco bananas look like they are slowly starting to sprout out. You might help them by temporarily pulling back that lighter-colored mulch and letting sunshine warm the dirt right around them. If you're Really Devoted, put the mulch back around them at night to help hold that warmth in! As for your palms, even the little guy that's so fried looks like he's got a good spear point starting out from the center. As with the bananas, I'd pull that mulch away in the day. And if those older leaf stems are dead, I'd cut them away and consider putting a little tomato cage or something around the plant itself. After all, you don't want someone to walk into it because they can't see the little bit that's left. But if you leave all those branches to just wrack in the wind, that can be hard on a little palm trying to get itself rooted into its new world. Best of luck; you are a devoted soul after my own heart, and I know only too well what it's like to struggle to grow plants from other zones! ~J.

Depends on what kind of banana you want, do you want them to fruit? I know OSH, home depot, walmart, and lowes all carry different varieties of bananas. Red bannas don't grow edible fruit, and the big fat ones don't either. The others can. If your lowest normal temp isn't below 20, you should be able to grow banans that fruit. They will die in the winter, but come right back up after the last frost. I would put plastic around them after they look dead. My temps often get 30 degrees, and below. My come back every spring and grow bananas. Good luck.

Make sure the palm is able to withstand cold. Good palms for this would be Needle Palm, Sabal minor, Saw palmetto, maybe even chamaerops humilis. The bananas will likely die every winter, but all you have to do is cut away the dead stuff and it grows right back! For the palm trees, depending on what palm trees you get, will need winter protection.