My Raja Puri dwarf banana is flowering.
I think this is the best banana for people who want to grow them outside, but need to protect them from a little frost now and then. Raja Puri fruit is delicious, much better than store-bought Cavenish bananas, but also smaller. I think it compares favorably with the Ice Cream banana, considered the best by many people. Ice Cream is a very large plant I could not fruit here without a greenhouse, because it is too big to protect during our winters.
The base of a Raja Puri inflorescence is at about nipple level for a man 5' 11" / 180cm tall, and it hangs down to dog level. A normal flowering produces 6 hands of 12 bananas each. This dwarf plant is easier to protect from frost than standard varieties.
I grow it in the bed right beside my front door, under a wide eave and against a picture window. It faces north by northwest. It gets afternoon summer sun, but is mostly shaded in the winter, when it is dormant. This is a great exposure here; bananas burn in our summer sun. In the winter I drape frost cloth from the roof down over the plant. The heat from the window and front door are enough to keep it above freezing.
I drain my high-efficiency washing machine into a barrel, and use a hand truck to move it outside. I use the water on the beds in front of my house. Bananas are heavy nitrogen feeders, almost impossible to burn with fertilizer. I try to give this one a pound / 456 grams of ammonium sulfate per week during its growing season. I sprinkle it on the bed just before I water. Bananas don't use water in cool weather, so I don't need to water in the winter.
Those of you in places where there is minimal frost could grow this easily. This includes places like Austin, the Gulf Coast of the US, southern Florida, southern Europe and almost anywhere in the tropics.
You can read more about bananas at the
California Rare Fruit Growers.
Raja Puri dwarf banana flowering
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