Welcome to the 2008 planting season
Winter is about half over and its not ending fast enough
1-5-08: We have had more frost days this year so far than I cane remember.
A major new implementation to the site this year was re-placing the secure order page with a check out system via PayPal. You are assured of fast and safe check out with either a PayPal account or any credit card.
Living in zones 5,6,and 7 once meant few plant choices. The want of a lush more tropical look of palms combined with bananas, bamboo and other bold foliage has been met, the list continues to grow. In some cases a little extra work is involved, but well worth it. The use of hostas, ferns, and grasses (some hardy to as low as zone 3) not only offer the foundation to creating an exotic feel but are dependable should something go wrong with your more marginal plantings.
Hardy Tropicals is a sister company to www.bambu-u.com now a dedicated bamboo site for ease to the customers. We are located in Chimacum, Washington; which is in the upper northwest corner of the Olympic Peninsula. Our elevation makes us a solid zone 7.
Musa basjoo coming out of its first winter (early June 2007)
A Musa basjoo cheats death in its first winter! This was a 3 gallon plant last June (2006) . It got to about 7 feet by the time it had to wrestle with a low of between 5 and 10. With zero protection. What you can not see it there are 4 other little trunks at the far side of the 2 larger ones. The point here is more that the banana does not come back from last years frozen back trunk! Look at a few more images on the banana care page.
The same bed in early September
Here is the same bed as the image above about 90 days later. Because of the cooler than usual summer (5th coolest in the last 30 years) The height of the front Musa basjoo is only about 7 feet. But there are 12 pseudostem's 3 of which average about 6 inches in diameter. I often get feed back about how people do not get the growth they feel they should. These bananas where all fed following the feeding program suggested on the banana care page.
We have sent Musa basjoo, which is also known as The Japanese fiber banana to places such as Indiana where they have had good success. Trachycarpus fortunei, the windmill palm has been grown for considerable time in colder areas of The United States and northern Europe. The use of bold foliage plants such as Petasites japonicus (zones 5-9) Gunnera manicata, (zones 7-10) grasses in the miscanthus group (zones 4-9) with hardy bananas, palms then contrasted with intense blues of eucalyptus create the foundation for an exotic feel in the temperate garden.