Musa basjoo

Entering the Gardens from the Thompson Road entrance, one cannot help but be totally entranced by the exotic bed outside the South Lodge. Standing proudly in the centre of these tropical plants is the ‘hardy’ Japanese banana Musa basjoo. There is no better plant for achieving a tropical effect.

Normally we would expect a banana to produce fruit, but this plant is grown primarily for its handsome, enormous leaves, which set off the whole bed of other exotics. This plant has been propagated from its parent plant in the Glass Pavilions.

Originating in Southern Japan, it was cultivated for its fibre. It was introduced by the plant hunter, Charles Maries, in about 1881, when it was collected for the Veitch company. Although it may be hardy in some parts of the UK it does need winter protection.

The late Christopher Lloyd from Great Dixter was a great advocate for the use of the Musa basjoo in his designs, and used many of the plants seen in this bed.

Good companions for the banana are the cannas, also known as Indian Shot. They do not hail from India but from the West Indies, where the commonest species is Canna indica.

The Castor Oil plant, Ricinus communis, is another exotic, grown as an annual, with deeply lobed leaves and bright red spiny capsules. It is native to S.E. Mediterranean and East Africa. Although the whole plant is poisonous, the seeds contain valuable oils.

Congratulations must go to the team of gardeners in the Botanical Gardens for this extravagant display.