Seattle Tropical Yard Tour Near the End of Summer

[@tntropics]

Looking great with lots of variety

[@vibonitatropics]

Thanks!

[@nateross14]

Looks great, very nice tour! Awesome you got the Dwarf Namwahs. It always pains me to see Banana plants that large in such tiny pots, though like those Icecream Bananas.Gotta do what you gotta do, but those poor rootballs.

[@vibonitatropics]

I had plans to put the blue javas in the ground at the start of spring, but kept delaying since the ones I kept in the ground didn't make it and wasn't sure what I was going to do differently. I'm actually repotting them today since they are going to spend at least one more winter in pots.

[@nateross14]

@@vibonitatropics Good to hear, I totally understand, its it's hard to always have optimal conditions, especially when we have so many plants! My obsession with growing Bananas has made me come to view them as children, haha.

[@richardr5878]

Excellent update. Would love to trade ya for a double Mahoi. That’s super cool banana!

[@vibonitatropics]

I would be willing to work a trade once the pups are further along.

[@nateross14]

It'll be great to see which Banana varieties you end up like growing the best. So far I'm loving growing the Dwarf Namwahs, fast growers and less prone to root rot than Cavendish. I picked up a nice large 3 ft tall Dwarf Brazillian Banana pup of ebay a couple a few weeks ago that is close to as cold hardy as the Namwahs, so we'll see how they do. Those Dwarf Manzano you got look like a great one to grow too,I'll have to add some of those to my collection. A couple other cold hardy varieties you might want to consider are Dwarf Goldfinger and Dwarf Raja Puri, both excellent desert bananas.. The Raja Puri has massive , leaves so not the best choice for me in a greenhouse where I have limited room and sunlight,but I'm strongly considering getting a Goldfinger to compare to the others. It's tough wanting to grow so many bananas and not enough space!

[@vibonitatropics]

I'm with ya. I keep telling the CEO (wife) we need to move so I can get more plants but she's not having it. I've been looking for a Brazilian banana but haven't found one available.

[@blanearnold8699]

Great collection! I’m over in port orchard and have been working on collecting edible tropicals that do well in colder climates. Maybe we can make some trades next spring/summer🤙🏼

[@vibonitatropics]

Thanks, Blane! Always willing to do some trades.

[@jasonsteinberg5404]

Excellent tour and collection- thanks!! What type of protection do you have for the pineapple?

[@vibonitatropics]

A dolly and a nice window 🤣. It will come inside.

[@trinitye6928]

Do you have a video on how to winterize the windmill palm? If not can u tell me what you did to make sure it survives the winter outside

[@vibonitatropics]

Windmill palms can take 15F / -10C for short periods before taking damage so I don't usually do anything to the mature palms I have in the ground. I keep smaller windmills in pots and pull them inside if it gets below 20F / -8C. If you get colder than that, the common options are using burlap or horticultural fleece to wrap the trunk and cover with incandescent christmas lights. The lights must be incandescent (c9 is best) and not LED as LED don't put off much heat. Option 2 would be to build an insulated box around the palm which more people than you might think end up doing in more extreme environments.

[@HershNoeie]

I live in Tacoma. Do you give away extra palms you don’t need? I am really wanting to make my yard more tropical after visiting San Diego.

[@vibonitatropics]

I don't have any extra plants right now that would be worth a drive from Tacoma, sorry.

[@trinitye6928]

What was the name of the palm tangled with the cedar tree?

[@vibonitatropics]

It's a windmill palm (trachycarpus fortunei)