Hardy Tropicals UK

Hi All,
looks like B&M is the new place for the odd and rarer.I got these for £5 each

Typical they'll be dead by the time I can get there on Friday. Nice find

I wil be ringing my local store to find out if they have any in stock.

The Banana in the pic is musa zebrina not siam ruby

mushtaq86 wrote:The Banana in the pic is musa zebrina not siam ruby

I thought it probably was but wasn't 100%.

Thanks

a very odd one at that..the red is not uniform at all like the ones we have over here

Ok so whats the differences i should look out for to tell them apart ?
i suspected but given the stem is red and the leaves are now turning redder i still presumed its a Siam Ruby (in addition to that the nursery company also ship zebrina )

musa siam ruby has all red leaves with a few splashes of green on them,p-stem is all red.The plant starts all green,when it gets above 12 inches,the leaves start to turn red,it's a stunning banana,not suited for the UK,then again how many are ,check out banana section to see pics.

Siam Ruby is the Beauty and the Beast of the Banana world, but what B&M are offering is not it. SR is stunning to look at but a real pain in the 'arris to grow.

Siam does well in summer and autumn, but needs quite high temps to be happy with better light than full sun over winter.

Read through this topic for pics and trials and tribulations of growing.

The real Siam Ruby

Ive also had my troubles with the Siam. I have 2 now that are growing well but as soon as the weather turns there goners I always bring them in but without some kind of grow light you can give it up. They usually fall on me around dec. then I keep the corm and start over when it warms up. They will overwinter as a corm if you keep them dry in a pot but keeping them growing is a lost cause like Dave said.

Never been able to get Siam Ruby and find out how difficult it really is. I have found Zebrina to be difficult. However, my SR that never was, the Musa 'Margarita', remained trouble-free over the winter as it was housed in a big south-facing bay window at my mother's retirement home, where the heating was on high constantly and was quite happy to be generously watered with no sign of wilting or rot. It's loving this summer outside where it's pupping and sits seven feet tall in it's pot.
As one is a sport of the other, I hope that Ruby will do just as well as Margarita should I ever get one.

The black colocasias are a puzzle as I get Magic to survive the winter but can't start up again in the spring, while the supposedly hardier Beauty dies far more readily with winter barely under way.

b+m are doing great selling all this exotic stuff this year

http://www.hardytropicals.co.uk/forum/v ... =1&t=20508

cordyman wrote:b+m are doing great selling all this exotic stuff this year

But would be better if they managed to get the names right.

The banana in the first pic doesn't look like Musa zebrina either as I had that for 5 years up to this spring. It looks more like the form of acuminata they call sumatrana, wrongly named 'blood banana' It is about as hardy as Dwarf Cavendish, so should be ok in a sunny lounge window over winter.

Bumped up this thread as I got my first Siam Ruby last Autumn from Urban Jungle. It was a healthy little plant that was certainly not Zebrina.

Following the original disappointment of getting one from Amulree that turned out to be the all-green non-colouring 'Margarita' I was subsequently happy to overwinter it at the hothouse that is my mum's retirement home and this did well before continuing to thrive outside in the very warm Summer. This was returned to the bright bay window last November but was joined by the little Siam Ruby still holding on to some original colour.

Both have performed very well and I'm particularly pleased with Ruby. This kept traces of colour all winter and I recently resited it in my mum's own flat where it sits on the south facing bathroom window sill. In the last month it has more than doubled its size, produced four pups and the full red colouring has already returned on the newest leaves and roller.

Pics to follow.

GREVILLE wrote:Bumped up this thread as I got my first Siam Ruby last Autumn from Urban Jungle. It was a healthy little plant that was certainly not Zebrina.

Following the original disappointment of getting one from Amulree that turned out to be the all-green non-colouring 'Margarita' I was subsequently happy to overwinter it at the hothouse that is my mum's retirement home and this did well before continuing to thrive outside in the very warm Summer. This was returned to the bright bay window last November but was joined by the little Siam Ruby still holding on to some original colour.

Both have performed very well and I'm particularly pleased with Ruby. This kept traces of colour all winter and I recently resited it in my mum's own flat where it sits on the south facing bathroom window sill. In the last month it has more than doubled its size, produced four pups and the full red colouring has already returned on the newest leaves and roller.

Pics to follow.

Wow wish i had one, hope you can propagate the pups on.