Yucca rostrata Transplant, Musa basjoo, stevia

Not only did my banana make it across the country without even the slightest amount of mould, but it is now thriving! All four of the pups survived and have grown considerable. The only thing slowing growth is a lack of water. Every night I soak it and by the end of the next day it is dried out and often wilting. I might need to stand it in a tray.


It's really crazy in Vancouver. You see bananas everywhere. Musa basjoo is hardy here and often the stems will survive the winter unprotected. Cold spell will however kill them down to the rhizome so many people wrap them.


My Yucca rostrata have also been doing well. They desperately need to be repotted. They look small but I checked the roots. The one on the right has the upper soil washed away. I need to repot it soon because the growth is clearly lagging behind the other.


Now stevia! it is sweet. Unfortunately some other animal realizes that as well and has been routinely munching on it. I think I might bring them to my community plot. It seems like they're finally large enough.

Quasi-Mega Plant Update

It's been a while since I've done a full on plant update so I figured it was about time!

I'll start with what I did today.  There is a large mulberry tree in Cottonwood Community Garden.  It's currently covered with mulberries.  James and I LOVE mulberries.  I noticed a branch that was hanging really low (into a hydrangea) and decided why not try some cuttings.

Apparently they are quite easy to start.  It's recommended to try in spring or summer but I figured why not try now.  You can see they are different sizes so hopefully the variety will end with something that roots.  Each twig has at least two buds in the soil.

I also ripped out my spinach and pak choi because they were covered with flowers.  Then I went to Plant Works expecting to come back with enough plants to fill the rest of my plot.  Nope.  Sometimes I forget how expensive things are.  Like when I think $9 for a shirt is ridiculously expensive.  I think I may be a bit cheap.  I ended up spending about $15 on some petunias and reasonably drought tolerant, discounted, slightly sickly looking plants.  I dropped them in the plot but forgot to take a picture.  Next time.

Now for the Trachycarpus fortunei sprouts.  I've counted a total of 14!  There aren't any actual leaves yet but I'm still excited.  They won't even have leaves resembling a fan for at least two years.  Some of the seeds were picked off a tree and the others were grabbed from the ground (probably one and two years old, so not very fresh).  I don't think I'll split them up until after the second leaves are out.

These are the Yucca rostrata that I started from seed.  I had three but left one at The University of Western Ontario Greenhouses.  The one of the right has started growing again and has produced several healthy new leaves.

My Musa basjoo has recovered.  This is the one that I chopped in half, destroyed the roots and wrapped in a bag.  Apparently they can put up with quite a bit.  All four pups even made it!  I probably won't split any of them off until next year.  I got this one as a 20cm plant at Home Depot.

BTW My landlords are gone so may plants are strewn across their yard.  You can see their children's toys randomly scattered in some of the pictures.

Here are my Stevia seedlings.  Only a few sprouted and they were growing really slowly.  In the last few days they've really started to pick up and have almost doubled in size.  I'm can't wait to try them as a sweetener!

I have my Adenium arabicum located in three different spots (two outside and one inside).  These are the saddest.  They were hit with a basketball and then attacked by aphids.  I was extremely angry at the time but now I'm just a little annoyed.  I figure the aphids attacked because they were stressed, as plants in the other location seem fine.  They'll be almost a year old at the end of August.  The other plants look much better (not pictured here).

I split my Moringa stenopetala between my community plot and these three pots in the backyard.  These ones were hit with a rather bad attack of aphids.  I think they were stressed because as far as I know aphids aren't very common for Moringa.  I sprayed them with a water/onion/garlic mix and I think it's been working.

I'll end off with my Brugmansia.  I started this one from seed in early spring.  It's the only one that I ended up taking across the country.  You can see from the trunk that it got a little bent during the trip.  There is a lot of new growth towards the top and offshoots along the entire stem.  I'm hoping for some flowers this year but don't expect to see any.

Hope you enjoyed this long and arduous post!  I've been a little MIA the last two months. ;)  I also got recognized today!  "Hey, aren't you the guy with the blog?"  Yeah!  I'm famous!  I've officially arrived!!!  If anyone would like an autographed seed packet, send money to...  :P

Operation Relocation - Day 5 - Saskatoon to Edmonton to Jasper

The original plan for today was to go to Edmonton and stay there for the night.  You can see from our route today that we ended up in Jasper.  I think this may have been the most eventful day of my life!

Once again, we spent most of our journey under clouds.  As we continued driving we started to notice accumulated snow on the ground.

Banana Butchery (Musa basjoo)

Unfortunately there was no way my Musa basjoo would fit in the car untouched.  I removed it from it's old pot.  The root ball was actually relatively small but the large pot gives the plant stability in the wind.  It's huge leaves act like giant sails.  Those are James' mom's geese.  :)

 I removed most of the dirt and cut off the extra roots.  I wrapped the root ball with some old newspaper and made sure it was slightly/moderately moist.  Then I double garbage bagged it.  The roots will just sit in the bag, relatively open to the air during the drive.  Mould hopefully won't be a problem but I'll make sure to check.

Well it was still to tall and didn't fit in the car.  So I got out the knife and chopped the top off.  As the tip bled in front of me I could hear the painful screams of thousands of souls.  That may be a little dramatic but cutting off the top of one of my more prized plants was a bit difficult.  Cutting them down is very common for shipping and many times they are cut down just above the roots.  It couldn't go sideways or at and angle because it might get bruised and there is still a lot more to place in the car!

Musa basjoo

UPDATE:  My Musa basjoo is a lot happier in the greenhouse.  The size of each leaf has doubled!


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It started to get a bit cool here so I'm bringing in some of the more tender plants. The first to come in is a Musa basjoo. Supposedly it's cold tolerant and would survive winters here. The stem would die but it should resprout from the rhizomes in the spring (with a little protection). Unfortunately I'm not yet ready to tempt fate. There are now four young pups at the base so I figure I'll be willing to risk some next year.

I've had this plant for about a year and a half. For the first summer I kept it in a small pot and it didn't end up growing very much. I brought it in for the winter and it put out a few leaves but barely grew. In the spring I decided to stick it in the ground and it has done very well. The summer was really cool but it's now about 1.5m tall and the stem thickness has quadrupled.

I'm hoping to bring it into the greenhouses for the winter so it continues to grow. I'll probably offer one of the pups as payment. I'm sure they won't care either way but I figure if I'm using space/water/fertilizer the least I can do is supply a new specimen.

I was very surprised to find that the root ball was relatively small. It was out of the ground in under a minute. I thought about removing the two largest pups but I figure it's best to wait until spring. It's already been though a shock so I shouldn't tempt fate.

If anyone has succesfully overwintered basjoo in zone 5/6 i would really appreciate hearing about your methods. Then I can refer back to them next winter.

I love bananas, even with damaged leaves! They are just so tropical looking.