I am just starting my Hawaiian garden and only have a couple australian ferns and a ti leaf plant that hasn't sprouted yet. I would love to add a banana plant to the mix, but I don't have much to offer yet.

I got a Red E Ventricosum banana late this spring. It did well in a pot getting quite large. About July I put it in the ground and did okay for awhile then started growing backwards (declining).. its pretty small right now..it really does dislike the hotter night temps as Eric (a previous poster) mentioned. I have grown both the green and red ones from seed in pots in S. Louisiana and they did quite well. They can get huge when they are happy. I'm going to put mine back in a pot again and see if it improves now that the nights are cooling off and it seems to be perking up a little. I think it takes the humidity better in a pot, based on my experiences. I also think they appreciate a little shade in the hottest part of the day here. I also grew these in AZ with basically no humidity and way above 100F temps during the summer they definitely hated that but survived with some shade and a misting system I had set up for my tropicals. My two Zebrina bananas are doing quite well, currently, in the ground and are beautiful. I've killed (or the winter, I should say, killed) 2 Siam Ruby bananas here but that was before I had my greenhouse techniques refined lol. ~Sjn

Do know the name of the banana? You're doing everything right at this point. Most bananas need 18 months or longer to produce fruit. You will probably get fruit this summer. You will get an indication that it's going to fruit by looking at the new leaves as they emerge. When a banana is ready to fruit, it begins putting out shorter leaves and the last leaf is a paddle shaped leaf. It's called the flag leaf and the bloom follows. Good luck. Steve

Then, after taking a few pics and salivating a bit, I headed back inside. Halfway there I heard it,...a loud, hi pitched, ratchety, chirping sound ! I turned around and was speechless,..had only enough time to snap one pic as he/she wanted to come inside with me,...like the big wood stork I met out there a few yrs ago ! What's that ? OMG !!! Love my South Florida plantation, but am wondering,...did I take it a bit too far ?