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Amanda's Blog

Amanda's Garden Consulting Company

Banana & Palm Tree Winter protection

12/10/2017

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banana winter protection,October garden journal,thegardenwebsite.com,Amanda Jarrett
Bananas planted in the ground fair better than ones growing in containers.
banana winter protection,October garden journal,thegardenwebsite.com,Amanda Jarrett
Bananas grown in containers need special care as they don't benefit from the thermal heat of the earth.
​
 ​If you admire the look of tropical plants in the garden but live too far north, you can bring the tropics to your garden with hardy banana plants (Musa basjoo) and Chinese windmill palms (Trachycarpus fortunei) in the temperate zones of 7 and 8 in British Columbia, Southwest Ontario and parts of the Maritimes.
 
Although these plants are tough cookies and can be left outside all year long in the warmer parts of Canada, they still need winter protection. If they are not too big, bring them inside and use them as houseplants. Place in front of a sunny window and water when needed. Don’t keep them too dry as that promotes spider mites, whilst keeping them too wet promotes rotting. If you don’t want to use them as houseplants, an alternative is to store them in a basement with grow lights, in a heated garage or greenhouse. Check on them often to make sure they are not too dry, too wet or having health issues.
 
If your container grown banana or palm trees are too big to bring inside, there are ways to protect them. Container grown plants are more prone to winterkill since their roots are in pots and are not protected by the thermal heat of the earth. If you can bury their pots in the ground, do so, or wrap the pots with insulation, layers of cardboard, carpets, anything that will insulate them from the cold, the wind and temperature fluctuations. Place at least 6 inches of leaves, mulch, straw or even soil over the crowns (where the stem meet the roots). Follow the rest of the instructions below to protect the upper portions of the plant 

Protecting Banana Plants outside

banana winter protection,October garden journal,thegardenwebsite.com,Amanda Jarrett
Cut off all the banana stems from the plant and place them on top of the roots to insulate them.
There is no need to try to protect banana stems as they are just temporary anyway. Technically, banana plants are herbaceous perennials, which means they are non-woody. New stems arise from the underground rhizomes (similar to bamboo, iris and grasses). Once the new stems produce fruit the stem collapses and dies, so don’t panic when this happens; it will be replaced soon enough. Therefore we are not trying to protect the stems, but the roots. As long as the roots are alive, new shoots will energetically emerge in spring.
 
To protect their roots/rhizomes, cut off any stems and cut them into 1 foot pieces. Surround the root area with a cage made of chicken wire or hardware cloth to make a tube a few feet high or higher. Lay cut up banana stems and leaves of top of the roots inside the cage. Add more layers of fall leaves or straw if you wish. If they are located in a sheltered location where they don't receive rain, check on them often to make sure they are receiving adequate water.  Plants drying out during the winter is just as bad as sogging out too wet

Protecting Palm Trees outside

Chinese windmill palm,Trachycarpus fortunei,palm winter protection,thegardenwebsite.com,AmandaJarrett
A palm's growing point, where the new fronds appear, must be protected from killing frosts.
​The most tender and important part of a palm tree is the central bud that grows at the very top of the plant. If that dies, so does the rest of the plant no matter how toasty warm the roots are. That central bud is where all the new foliage originates from. An easy way to protect that growing tip is to gather the surrounding fronds and tie them together over the bud. Continue to wrap with many layers of burlap, cloth or other breathable fabric. Don't wrap too tightly though as this reduces the insulating effect of the fabric. 
 
Protect the crown and roots with at least 6 inches of organic mulch such as leaves, straw or wood chips.  Wrap the base and trunk with a breathable fabric, fiberglass or even cardboard. If the palm is small, protect it with a cage as mentioned with the banana. For a simple fix, tie the top fronds together with twine then wrap them with non-LED Christmas lights. The heat from the old fashioned lights should keep that central bud adequately warm.  

Rain & Rot

winter protection,palms,bananas,thegardenwebsite.com,Amanda Jarrett
The key to winter protection is many layers that breath and covering the plant from head to toe.
Australian tree fern,Cyathea cooperi,winter protection Australian tree fern,thegardenwebsite.com,Amanda Jarrett
This Australian tree fern also receives protection from the ground up.
In our rainy climate of the Pacific Northwest, ​the fear of plants becoming rain sodden and rotting underneath their winter protection is a concern, so they are often put under the eaves away from the rain. This is a good idea as they also receive protection from the house, however, if the soil dries out, this also promotes winter damage. Check on them occasionally and add water if and when it is needed.
 
Plastic is often added on top of insulating fabric or even used alone to keep the relentless rains from rotting the plants, however, since plastic doesn’t breath, it holds any moisture in. This actually promotes decay and has little insulating value. To prevent soggy fabric, place plastic over top of the fabric etc., but poke a many holes in the sides to let air flow. 

Good luck with your tropical plants this winter. Cross your fingers that Old Man Winter will be kind to us.  

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    Archives

    Here are some of my previous blog postings. They cover a wide range of topics from bugs to my botanical excursions and conventions. Click on whichever interests you on the titles below for easy navigation. 
    • ​Building a French Kitchen (Potager) Garden
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Tomato Taming
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvests
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Plant Rusts
    • Dunbar Garden Club Garden Tour 2020
    • Rose Bloom Balling
    • ​Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses Do Exist.. Really!​
    • Easy Vegetable Garden Trellis 
    • Tomato Seedlings to Plants
    • Video: How to Divide Dahlias 
    • Video: How to Plant a Tree
    • Video: How to Prune a Grapevine in Winter
    • Damping Off - A Seedling Killer!
    • Lawns: ​Seeding, Sowing, Renovating
    • Lawn Grub Control
    • Tuberous Begonias 101
    • Dahlias 101
    • Pruning in Winter
    • Pruning & Training Grape Vines in Winter
    • Insects & Diseases Control with Dormant Spray
    • Dealing With Drought
    • Heritage Vancouver 7th Annual Garden Tour
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Pruning Shrubs into Trees
    • 10 Steps to Festive Planter
    • Christmas Tree Selection 
    • Collecting & Saving Seeds
    • Heritage Vancouver 6th Garden Tour
    • The Dunbar Garden Tour 2018
    • Dart's Hill, A Garden Park
    • VanDusen Botanical Gardens Visit
    • Tall Kale Tales
    • Northwest Flower & Garden Show, Seattle
    • Pruning in Winter
    • Pruning & Training Grape Vines in Winter
    • Insects & Diseases Control with Dormant Spray
    • Why Christmas cactus Don't Blossom
    • A Quickie Festive Swag
    • Putting the Garden to Bed
    • How to Drain Soggy Soil
    • A Visit to the Arizona - Sonora Desert
    • Banana, Palm Tree Winter Protection
    • Lasagna Gardening, Sheet Mulching
    • Saving Geraniums, Coleus, Bougainvilleas & Other Tender Plants 
    • Spiders Everywhere - Oh My!
    • Tomato Troubles & Soil Solarization
    • Trees That Drip That Sticky Stuff
    • Balcony Bliss
    • June Bugs - One Huge Beetle! 
    • A Summer's Day Harvest
    • The Dunbar Garden Club Private Tour
    • Leaky Birdbaths and Slug Free Strawberries
    • Oops... Wrong Plant, Wrong Place
    • I Had An Ugly Lawn...​
    • ​How to Make a Christmas Elf
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • To subscribe to my blog click here. 

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Photo used under Creative Commons from vwcampin
  • Home
  • About, Services, Contact
  • Ask Amanda
  • Roses
    • Types of Roses
    • Easy Roses
    • Climbing Roses
    • Portland's Rose Test Garden
    • Rose Insects & Diseases
    • Pruning Roses
    • Rose Sawfly
    • Rose Bloom Balling
  • Pruning Basics 101
    • Pruning Tools
    • Winter Pruning
    • Pruning Grapes
    • Pruning Clematis
    • Prune Your Own Garden Registration
  • Lawn Basics
    • Lawn Reno, Seed & Sod
    • Lawn Maintenance Schedule
    • Spring Lawn Care
    • Moss in Lawns
    • Lawn Alternatives
    • Lawn Grub Control
  • Mulch & Mulching
    • Living Mulches - Groundcovers
  • Propagation
    • Growing Seeds Outdoors
    • Growing Seeds Indoors
    • Taking Cuttings
    • Seed & Plant Catalogues
  • How to Garden Topics
    • Fall Garden Chores
    • Planting Know-How
    • Soil Building
    • Watering Tips & Techniques
    • Drought Gardening
    • Sheet Mulching, Lasagna Gardening
    • Cover Crops
    • Composting
    • Compost Tea
    • Houseplant Winter Care
    • Hummingbirds in Winter
    • Winterize Your Garden
    • Ponds in Winter
  • Growing Food
    • Spring Veggie Gardening
    • Crop Rotation, Succession & Companion Planting
    • Harvesting
    • Growing Potatoes
    • Winter Veggie Gardening
    • Taming Tomatoes
    • Speeding up Tomato Harvest
    • Tomato Tips
    • Saving Tomato Seeds
    • Tomato Troubles
  • Plant Pests 1
    • Plant Pests Part 2 - Controlling Insects
    • Garden Inspections
    • Helping Pollinators
    • Dogwood Anthracnose
    • Viburnum Leaf Beetle
    • Dormant Oil/Lime Sulfur
    • Japanese Beetles
    • Peony Blotch/Measles
    • Slugs & Snails
    • Horsetail, the Weed
    • June Beetle
    • Powdery Mildew
    • Soil Solarization
    • Rhododendron Leaf Spot
    • Plant Rusts
    • Black Knot
  • Container Growing
    • Choosing a Container
  • Feeding Plants 101
    • Fertilizers & Ratios
    • Nutritional Deficiencies & Toxicities
    • Organic Plant Food
  • Plant of the Month
    • Spring Flowering Bulbs
    • Colourful Fall Plants
    • Abelia
    • American Sweetgum
    • Ash (Fraxinus) Trees
    • Astilbes
    • Aubretia, Rock Cress
    • Aucuba, Japanese Spotted Laurel
    • Autumn Crocus
    • Bear's Breeches
    • Beautyberry, Callicarpa
    • Black-eyed Susans
    • Bleeding Heart, Lamprocapnos spectabilis
    • Calla Lilies
    • Dahlias
    • Daylily
    • Delphiniums
    • Devil's Walking Stick, Aralia spinosa
    • Dwarf Alberta Spruce
    • Dwarf Burning Bush
    • Evergreen Clematis
    • Fall Asters
    • Flowering Currants
    • Flowering Quince
    • Fritillaria
    • Garden Peonies
    • Garden Phlox
    • Ginkgo biloba
    • Grape-hyacinths
    • Handkerchief or Dove Tree
    • Harry Lauder's Walking Stick
    • Heathers
    • Hellebores, Lenten roses
    • Himalayan Sweet Box
    • Jack-in-the-pulpit, Cobra Lily
    • Japanese Anemones
    • Japanese Forest Grass
    • Japanese Maples
    • Japanese Skimmia
    • Japanese Spurge
    • Laurustinus viburnum
    • Lavenders
    • Lily-of-the-Valley Shrub, Pieris japonica
    • Mediterranean Spurge
    • Mexican Mock Orange
    • Montana Clematis
    • Mountain Ash
    • Oriental Poppies
    • Oriental Lilies
    • Paperbark Maple
    • Pink Dawn Bodnant Viburnum
    • Poinsettias
    • Oregon Grape Holly
    • Ornamental Kale
    • Peruvian Lily, Alstroemeria
    • Phalaenopsis, Moth Orchids
    • Persian Silk Tree
    • Portuguese Laurel
    • Rose of Sharon
    • Sneezeweed, Helenium
    • Snowberry
    • Snowdrops
    • Star Magnolia
    • Strawberry Tree, Pacific Madrone
    • Stewartia
    • Torch Lily, Kniphofia uvaria
    • Tree Peonies
    • Tuberous Begonias
    • Virginia Creeper
    • Weigela
    • Winterhazel, Corylopsis
    • Winter Camellia, C. sasanqua
    • Wintergreen, Gaultheria procumbens
    • Witch Hazel
    • Wood Anemones
    • Yews
  • Garden Tour Blogs
  • Monthly Flower Arrangements
  • Website Index
  • Subscribe
  • Need Help?
  • Garden Club Events