Growing a hardy banana in Seattle
Musa basjoo, the Japanese hardy banana, in my garden in July 2024.
I was given a division of the Japanese Hardy Banana (musa basjoo) by a neighbor in the fall of 2023. Like with many plants, I started a crash course in knowing what to expect and how to care for it only after receiving it… I should probably know what I’m getting into before acquiring a plant, but c’est la vie.
Design-wise, all I really knew was that I wanted a larger leaved plant to provide a tropical look and contrast with the majority of the plants in my garden, which are mostly smaller-leaved trees and shrubs. The odd hosta is great for large foliage, but how about something more exotic, like a banana? Would it do okay in my rainy, cool pocket of the world?
Musa basjoo is from Japan, and most anything from Japan can be grown in Seattle. Musa basjoo is said to be hardy to -10F/-23C, which makes it easily hardy in Seattle. Will it fruit? Not likely in Seattle. Historically, this banana was grown for the fibers that can be harvested from it. It will flower and fruit in a warm enough climate, but the fruit is not considered tasty anyway.
In today’s gardens, musa basjoo is grown for exactly what I wanted it for: those large, tropical leaves. My neighbor provided all the evidence that the plant would be hardy in my area, as she had a huge stand of them in her front yard. Apparently she had a load of compost sitting there when she first planted it, so her bananas have been living the good life in nice rich soil for several years.
So, the neighbor offered to give us a division, as her stand was getting pretty dense. I was able to pick up my division in late October of 2023. It was huge, with a heavy rootball that my wife and I could barely move together.
We were getting ready to go out of town for a few days, so I wanted to get it in the ground immediately. I had my spot picked, dug a hole larger than the rootball, amended with lots of Cedar Grove compost, and popped the banana in. The stems had already been cut back, and all the leaves removed. It didn’t look like much, which is the funny thing about adding new plants in the fall. Sometimes you’re planting what looks like a stick or mostly dead looking plant. But you plant it with a hope for next year (hope is really what gardening is all about anyway).
It didn’t look like much when first planted!
I expected it to survive the winter, but planting later in fall when the roots are not super established made me nervous, so I put a nice thick layer of mulch above it to help insulate the roots — the mulch layer is a standard recommendation for any marginally hardy plant. Musa basjoo can get quite tall if you’re able to protect the stem itself over the winter, as new leaves will emerge from last years growth. I didn’t bother to try this in year one, so I knew the stem would freeze and die. But even so, the root system is supposedly hardy to -10F (-23C).
The winter of ‘23-’24 was a good test. We had a cold snap featuring two solid days where the high didn’t get above 20 F (-7C), which is a once a decade or so event in Seattle (normally we get a seasonal low around 15, but it’s unusual not to get into the 20s during those winter blasts). Would the banana survive?
It did. By spring, the previous year’s stems had been reduced to what looked like a pile of cow dung (I’ll spare you that picture). But in mid-May, signs of growth emerged.
The banana will make ‘pups’, which are basically new growth points emerging from the corm.
The hardy banana has an underground corm (or rhizome) where it stores energy, and new growth emerging from the corm is called a ‘pup’. The division I got originally had two stems. They both died. By July, there were at least five pups. This banana can make a small jungle pretty quickly!
Once the spring weather got warm, the banana really got growing. New leaves emerge in a tight cylinder before they unfurl. As the plant matures during the season, the leaves get to be two to three feet long, and at least a full foot wide. It is quite an experience to watch each leaf develop.
Verdict: Yes, you absolutely can grow a hardy banana plant in Seattle, in fact it’s pretty easy if you can make the plant happy.
Hardy banana care
You will want to plant your banana in full sun, the more the better. If possible, site it so it is not in a windy spot so the leaves don’t get tattered (though the plant won’t actually care).
I give my banana two gallons of water from my watering can every ten days or two weeks through the dry summer. Adding some seaweed or fish fertilizer when watering is a great idea. I use Alaska Fish Fertilizer which I can find for a good price at the box stores.
When planting, add lots of extra nutrition to the soil, compost works very well. Bananas like rich soil. Every spring, spread an inch or so of fresh compost around the plant (maybe three shovels full?) to keep the richer soil vibes going.
Hardy banana winter care
As noted earlier, musa basjoo is pretty hardy (to -10F / -23C). Every year before frost, add a couple of inches of fresh mulch to help insulate the corm.
When the plant looks ragged (for me this was not until December) feel free to cut down the leaves and compost them.
If you want to max out your banana’s height, you need to protect the stem over winter. After cutting the leaves, cut the stem down to about three feet high or so. Make a quick round cage out of some wire fencing (no top needed), making it big enough for six inches of space around the banana stem. (You can make the cage out of anything, but wire fencing is cheap and easy). Pop the cage around the stem, and fill the cage with DRY leaves. Really pack them in there. The leaves will offer some insulation. If it’s not a particularly bitter winter, the protected stem will not freeze, and new growth the following spring will emerge from the top of the stem.
If the stem freezes and dies, it’s not a biggie. It just means new growth will come from the ground and the banana will not be quite as tall.
Hardy banana photo gallery in my Seattle garden
Below is a small gallery of pictures from my first year with musa basjoo.
And here’s the musa basjoo in summer of 2025, it’s second growing season, doing exactly what I wanted: offering a tiny touch of tropical in my northwest garden!
A little bit of the tropics looks at home with a blueberry shrub, contorted filbert, dwarf Alberta spruce, and many other Northwest garden staples
