I understand that ornamental bananas aren't allowed in a large part of NSW and all of Queensland, but I was reading a couple of NZ articles about ornamental bananas and wondered what varieties are available in Australia.

I've got velutina, zebrina and ornata.

Is coccinea or mannii available in Australia?

Does anyone know any mail order sources?

Any other varieties recommended?

Thanks

Greg

Regards, Ari :)

On this subject Im after some Ensete seeds if anyone can advise me please?

Concerning Ensete ventricosum, my father grew one in the garden in the 1950s in our northwestern Sydney suburb (frosty in winter). It set plenty of seed but my recollection is that we had to wait until the plant was in a senescent state after flowering, so your average tidy-minded gardener would have cut it down long before. We tried germinating the seeds under normal summer conditions without success, then put some over the oil-fired heater in his orchid house and got good germination. I have seen plants in Sydney garden centres recently, at excessive prices.

Ensete flower at about 5-7 years old and then die. Although they look spectacular when growing well they don't allow a lot to ground around them and leave a huge whole when the go.

There are a few places around Sydney that have them and some other ornamental bananas at more reasonable prices. The Friends of the Sydney Botanic Gardens usually sell Ensete ventricosum and Musa velutina tubes for under $10. They grow very fast.

Greg

Does anyone know what this would be?

The Friends of the Botanic Gardens Sydney usually have Ensete and Musa velutina for sale.

All the best

Greg