Northern Wonder Banana™

Hardiness Zone: 5-10

Northern Wonder Banana is a year round tree in the southern climates of Hardiness Zones 9 and 10. In hardiness Zones 8 through 5 where the winters are colder, Northern Wonder dies back to ground level in the winter and then grows in leaps and bounds once the weather warms up in the spring easily reaching heights of 12 to 18 ft. Your Northern Wonder Banana comes to you as a single stemmed plant. Starting in its second year it will put up multiple stems each spring and gradually create its own little tropical forest. In Zones 5 through 8, each year late in the fall, you should cut your banana down to 6 inches tall and apply an additional 8 inch layer of loose mulch in a 4 ft (or larger) circle for the winter months to protect the root system from winter weather extremes. Remove this mulch in early April in Zones 5 and 6, in early March in zones 7 and 8. Northern Wonder is an improvement over the original Hardy Banana, Musa basjoo, because it has proven to be more reliable and cold hardy in northern climates. There is even some experimenting happening further north to see just how cold hardy it is!

Water twice weekly for the first 3-5 weeks; then water weekly for the remainder of the year until winter. When you water, water slowly and thoroughly. Bananas do not like dry soils or drought conditions. Watering needs may be altered due to extreme weather conditions.

Incorporate Elements Starter Plant food granular form into the soil when planting. If planting in spring or summer start fertilizing late fall using Elements Starter Plant food granular form on an annual basis each late fall. Continue this for the first three years to get your plant well established.

In the southern Zones of 9 and 10 you can expect your Northern Wonder to provide tropical foliage twelve months of the year. You can simply sit back and enjoy your banana while removing the occasional lower leaf as your banana grows. If you want to encourage fruit production for its ornamental value (this banana is not one we eat), prune out the stems that have bourne fruit once the fruit is gone to make room for new stems. North of that, in Zones 8 to 5, you can expect the cold weather to kill the above ground growth on your banana. Prune the entire plant back to 6" in late fall and apply an additional 8" of loose packed mulch for extra winter protection. Remove that extra mulch as the weather warms up in spring.