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Big Leaves Update

I may be blogging less lately but that doesn't mean that my plants have stopped growing. Here is a picture of my Musa Basjoo (hardy banana) and the Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain (big ass elephant ear) and they're both doing great.

We recently had my son's 4th birthday party during the 100 degree weather here in NJ. Guests still made their way outside to look at the giant leaves. If you're looking for a plant that's a great conversation starter then definitely go with the Giant Elephant Ear.

If you're interested in tracking their growth, here are links to my past updates.

First Received Plants in Mail
04/27/2006

Musa Basjoo Updates:
05/09/2006
06/03/2006

Colocasia gigantea Thailand Giant Strain Updates:
06/01/2006

In the future, I plan on posting about cutting away the pups on the banana to create more plants (if I actually do it without killing anything) and how I plan on overwintering these guys.

8/10/2006 11:42:00 AM | Labels: , |

This entry was posted on 8/10/2006 11:42:00 AM and is filed under Colocasia Gigantea , Musa Basjoo . You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

 

7 Comments:

  1. Unknown said...
    6:57 PM  
    Wow!!! I'd go out in the 100 degree heat to check those guys out, too. How close are you to your goal of 6ft.? And just how wide are those leaves?
    Anthony said...
    9:06 PM  
    The leaves are almost 4 feet wide and both plants are close to six or seven feet high. The pots that they're in are about a foot and half tall though so they're not quite six feet high yet.

    The chimenea that's in between the plants is five feet tall and it's hidden by the leaves.

    Definitely some fun plants!!!
    Christa said...
    9:27 PM  
    That elephant-ear plant is so cool looking! It reminds me of a very similar plant that's found in Costa Rica. When my husband and I were traveling there, we got caught (unprepared) in a rain storm one day and some of the locals told us to cut the leaves and use them as umbrellas. They called them "Poor Man's Umbrella."
    Anthony said...
    11:09 PM  
    Christa, I like the umbrella story.

    My wife's friend wants to cut some leaves and wrap the kids up like pigs in blankets to take some pictures.
    Kurt said...
    6:05 PM  
    Anthony, have you tried "Angels Trumpet",or Brugmansia? They have large trumpet shaped flowers(like six to seven inches).Extremely fragrant, and the interesting thing is the fragrance is released in the evening. You can smell it all over the garden. They won't make it in the winter either, but will grow four to five feet in one summer! Another wow factor for people that have never seen it.

    kurt
    Anonymous said...
    3:28 AM  
    hey, I found your site while looking for information on this type of banana tree and how well it will grow up north (I live in southern Ontario). Just curious, how has your tree been doing after a winter now, are they still growing? and how big did it grow in a container?
    Anthony said...
    9:15 AM  
    Kurt, I'll have to try those they sound right up my alley. Don't know if they're in the budget this year though.

    Tony, I overwintered it (and two pups) in my garage. I cut back all the leaves and wrapped the root ball and stem (about 3-4 feet) in newspapers. They're about ready to go back outside now that the weather is warm again. I'll post another update with new pictures when I do.

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