Ensete perrieri

[griphuz]

Thanks for the regular picture updates and answers Jeff!

Strange however that you've had problems with other Ensete's there, ventricosum should be just fine over there, and superbum as well.

I've seen ventricosum growing and flowering in Costa Rica last year, so it should be possible. I actually had lots of seed that is now germinating at a friends greenhouse!

Kind regards,

Remko.

[Jeff in St Pete]

Thanks for the regular picture updates and answers Jeff!

Strange however that you've had problems with other Ensete's there, ventricosum should be just fine over there, and superbum as well.

I've seen ventricosum growing and flowering in Costa Rica last year, so it should be possible. I actually had lots of seed that is now germinating at a friends greenhouse!

Kind regards,

Remko.

Hi Remko, It's my pleasure to post the photos. This seems like a pretty rare plant and I am trying to document its growth as much as possible (mostly for Bananas.org)

I haven't tried any other Ensete in Costa Rica. I tried a few other species when I lived in Tampa FL, but they always withered away and died. I've seen other Ensete in Costa Rica, but they were growing at higher elevations. I have never seen them used near the coast before.

[Jeff in St Pete]

These plants have really grown during the first few months of the rainy season. I was looking back over some of the older photos I posted here and it's hard to believe how small these plants were just a couple of years ago.

Updated photos of the largest E. perrieri. Size 12 shoe for scale in the last photo

[Jeff in St Pete]

Updated photos of the other 8 plants (planted in two rows on a hillside)

[Mike in Nelson]

ventricosum do well in my garden and have even continued to grow slowly through winter. So they are not a tropical low land plant then?

[Jeff in St Pete]

It's been a while since I checked on the Ensete's shown in post #44, but today I walked out there and found this....

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

[Jeff in St Pete]

[carver]

Jeff, very cool! How tall is it that plant?

[Jeff in St Pete]

Jeff, very cool! How tall is it that plant?

I'm guessing the plant is about 10 to 12 feet tall overall (3 to 3.6 meters). After looking at photos of Ensete flowers on the internet, this looks most like E. superbum. It doesn't resemble the few photos of E. perrieri that I have seen.

Here's a photo with a friend for scale. This was one of the smaller plants, the one planted by the Bali House is substanially bigger. It appears that it is getting ready to bloom also.

[Jeff in St Pete]

ventricosum do well in my garden and have even continued to grow slowly through winter. So they are not a tropical low land plant then?

Mike, sorry I lost track of this post and I didn't see your question. I've read that they are native to tropical areas of Africa and Asia, but everytime I see nicely grown specimens here in Costa Rica they are always at high elevations. The plants in the photos are growing in tropical lowlands - they are all growing within about 100 meters from the beach.

[nomolos]

great nanas

[Al in Kona]

Very interesting Jeff. Those ornamental bananas (Ensete) are looking great in your tropical environment. I've seen Ensete ventricosum growing beautifully but always in cooler than true tropical climates. Chapultepec Park in Mexico City had some nice big ones (high elevation area). The dark red leaf form, Ensete ventricosum 'maurelii' or Red Abyssinian is very ornamental and I've seen nice ones in coastal S. California. I've tried it here but even at our elevation it doesn't thrive or look good for very long and loses much of the red leaf color. This species definately needs a cooler frost free climate to grow and look its best. However, the Ensete sp. that you have growing in your tropical climate is beautiful. How did it do during your dry season - did you have to water it often?

[Jeff in St Pete]

Al, only one Ensete received any additional care during the dry season (the one planted next to the Bali House). The others are planted out where my shadehouse used to be and receive no water during the dry season. They stop growing and the lower leaves fold down, but as soon as it starts raining again they return to normal in no time. The last couple dry seasons have not been that dry.

The one by the house was planted in a raised bed. It has grown the largest and looks the best out of all of them. It appears ready to bloom and is throwing smaller leaves so I will photograph it as the flower develops. For some reason I find these plants fascinating...

On the Banana forum this Ensete was identified as E. superbum. I received 100 seeds marked Ensete perrieri but somehow I ended up with the wrong species. These plants never looked like photos I have seen of E. perrieri and I always had my doubts, but now that is has flowered its id was confirmed.