Just Fruits and Exotics

Bananas are the best way to add tropical splendor to your landscape. Lush and fast growing, bananas can be used as a backdrop or as a focal specimen.

Create a summer windbreak or privacy screen, or create an instant shade garden. Mix in elephant ears and gingers for a South Seas paradise.

Bananas will grow and produce fruit regularly in the colder regions of the Lower South (Zones 8B and 9). It takes two things to be successful: a variety that will fruit in 9 months (most varieties take 2 years), and plenty of water and fertilizer. Bananas fruit year `round in Zone 10.

Ornamental Varieties

ABSYNNIAN Outstanding specimen in the summer garden. Deep red foliage and thick red trunks add tropical beauty. Reaches 18-20 feet. Ornamental only. Zones 8B-10. $29.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

BASJOO Super cold hardy, snow banana! Will survive to zone 7. Beautiful lush green leaves, ornamental white bloom. Reaches 12 feet. Zones 7-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

CHINESE YELLOW (Musella lasiocarpa) Shrub-like specimen with leathery gray-green foliage, reaches to 6'. Grown for its large, bizarrely beautiful yellow flowers that resemble giant golden artichokes. Zones 7-10. $29.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

ROJO RED Gorgeous deep burgandy foliage dappled with green. Grows 6-8 ft. Wonderful in containers. Zones 7-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

STEVE'S 3 STORY A 3 story tall (really!) banana where you want some oomph in your landscape! Will survive to Zone 7. Beautiful lush green leaves, reaches more than 20 feet. Thanks, Steve! Zones 7-10. Bare root only. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

Fruiting Varieties (Musa spp.)

APPLE A petite banana with a crisp apple flavor. Yummy! Zones 8B-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

BELLA NEW for 2007! Tall, vigorously growing tree (to 15-20' high) is reputed to be wind resistant and relatively cold tolerant as well. Grows the first year, preferring full sun, and fruits the second, with large, good quality bananas with an orange interior. Juvenile foliage is often highly colored. Quickly gives a luxuriously tropical look to the landscape whether or not it fruits Zones 8B-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

DWARF NAMWAH NEW for 2007! This delicious ladyfinger type dessert banana has been described as having “the tastiest, sweetest, highest quality fruit.” The tree grows rapidly even in cool areas (hardy zones 8-11), sporting coppery brown young leaves that mature into a lush green canopy about 7 feet high with mauve midribs on the underleaves. The sweet, thin-skinned bananas mature very quickly, even when the flower appears somewhat late in the season. This makes it an ideal fruiting banana for those areas on the fringe of being tropical enough. In addition, because it's a dwarf, it makes a fantastic container banana. Zones 8B-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

ICE CREAM This banana plant is covered with a silvery-white powder. When the fruit is ripe, the snow-white flesh is honey sweet and tastes like vanilla ice-cream. Honest! Zones 8B-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

LADYFINGER From the Canary Islands comes one of the world's favorite gourmet delights, the Lady Finger Banana. Cold hardy and grows 12-15 feet. When ripe, this small, very plump, cigar-shaped banana is thin-skinned, crunchy, creamy and absolutely delicious. Zones 8A-10. Bare root only. Available Bareroot $15.00 (2-3 ft.)

MYSORA By far one of the best flavored bananas. The tall 16 foot plants are lightly tinged with red on the stems and undersides of the new growth. They produce very large hands (up to 50 pounds) that contain short fat bananas that are rich and sweet. Zones 8B-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

DWARF ORINOCO Grows 10-12 ft. Cook as a plantain or eat fresh off the tree. Large, thick fruit. Good grower in Florida. Zones 8B-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

PINEAPPLE Finger banana. Grows 8-12 ft., with thin-skinned, 5-inch long fruit. Has a distinctive pineapple flavor. Very unusual. And an offshoot of Raja Puri that fruits readily. Zones 8A-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

PRAYING HANDS The fruit of this variety must be seen to be believed! This unusual variety produces hands of bananas that are fused together. To serve, slice the entire hand in half across the fingers, and scoop out the individual cells with a spoon. Delicious! One of the more cold-tolerant bananas. Zones 8B-10. Bare root only. Available bareroot $15.00 (2-3 ft.)

RAJA PURI If you only want one variety of banana, get this one. It is the strongest, and easiest to fruit. This native of India rarely exceeds 8 feet in height. The tough trunks are wind and disease resistant. Hands of bananas are large, 30 to 40 pounds, and each fruit is 5-6 inches. The flavor is excellent. Its dwarf size make it an excellent container plant for colder climates. Zones 8A-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).

THOUSAND FINGERS As the name implies, this variety will produce as many as 1000 bananas. This plant only produces female flowers and will continue to produce fruit until the stalk reaches the ground. The fruit is small, with a sweet pleasant flavor. Zones 8B-10. $26.99 3 gal (4-5ft).











Just the Facts
Not sure what to do with bananas or how to grow them right? DON'T PANIC! Push the panic button and we will give you "Just the Facts" you need to successfully grow them.

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Please come to see us if you can (Wednesday to Sunday, 9:05-5:08). We are located 19 miles south of Tallahassee, just off US Highway 98, 1 mile east of the intersection with US Highway 319 (South of Crawfordville center and actually in the village of Medart). If you need further directions, feel free to call us at 1-850-926-5644 or enter 30 St. Frances St. Crawforville FL 32327 (or Just Fruits Nursery) into Google Maps ( CLICK HERE).