“Bananas”, a copyrighted post, was written for my WordPress blog called Always Growing by Jan in Covington, Louisiana
Well, we finally received some rain. It has not rained here since May 22nd, and tonight, around 7:15 the rain, accompanied by tremendous thunder, started and was finished by 7:30pm. The rain gauge shows .30 inches. Even though this is not very much, it will help reinforce the watering I have been doing. I water the garden beds but only rarely water the lawn. It has to show definite signs of drought before I water. Surprisingly, since I have put the lawn on a water diet, it is doing much better. With our high humidity and heat, fungal diseases like brown patch can show up fairly regularly, so less watering helps with that. It also forces the grass roots to go deeper which is what is supposed to be what you want them to do and not stay close to the surface.
I wish the rain would have come in the late afternoon, so that the temperatures might have been lowered. It has been so hot that working in the garden has to stop by about ten o’clock. I still am trying to work everyday, and I can see some improvements. I just keep telling myself that a garden is never finished so stop trying to make it perfect.
One thing that is thriving in the high heat and humidity is the red banana tree.
This Musa sumatrana “Rojo” is starting its second year in the garden. Last year it was small but did well, putting out gorgeous red and green leaves. This year it seems as if it will reach its mature height of 6 to 8 feet by the end of the summer. Having tropical plants such as this makes up for having to put up with all that heat and humidity.
I have three green banana trees that I did not plant, nor were they here when we moved in. I have no idea where they came from. One day I noticed what I thought was a canna coming up by the patio. The next year when it came up after the winter, I transplanted it to another area. By the end of the summer, I thought that it looked different from a canna, and the next year I could tell it was a banana tree. Maybe it came as a tag-a-long in a plant I bought or someone gave me. I’ll never know, but I like having them.
Always Growing 
Brenda Kula said,
June 11, 2008 at 12:40 pm
I’ve been wanting one of these! And I need to cut back on my watering. I’m starting to kill some things. But other things look like they’re dying of thirst! Never quite know what to do.
Brenda
Jan said,
June 11, 2008 at 5:38 pm
Hi, Brenda. You’ll love this banana since it doesn’t get too big. Watering everything properly can be daunting. I sometimes feel that knowing when and what to water is an art and a science.