Did you know you can grow bananas in northern California Zone 9? I started seeing a few here and there around Fair Oaks, and at first I thought they were giant bird of paradise. But a little googling, and I found a website about a guy in West Sacramento who sells banana plants and kind of “evangelizes” about growing them around here. His name is Eric, and I told him I’m gonna call him the Banangelist. I don’t think he thought it was as funny as I did! :) Anyway, here’s a link to a page about him, his work, and the Sacramento Banana Festival.
2022 Update: here’s a new post about it flowering this summer, and I think we’re going to get viable fruit before winter!
2021 Update: we have a new post about it fruiting for the first time! Later update: sadly it snapped in the wind!
Major update! Eric the Banangelist said I could post his contact info here for all of you who keep contacting me for a way to buy good banana plants.
Here you go:
Eric George
Mobile: 916.627.8477
Email: egrant46@hotmail.com
After finding Eric the Banangelist, Santia and I bought one of his plants about a year and a half ago for our wedding anniversary (we’re goofy, romantic gardeners like that). It was only a few feet tall, and we planted it in October. For the first winter, we wrapped Christmas lights around it and put a little tent of canvas over it on freezing nights. Eric had told us to just cut off the frozen parts in the spring, but we wanted to keep it as green as possible for its first several months in the ground, just to be sure it had transplanted well. It worked, and it grew into a plant about 10 feet tall the first year.
This winter, we just let it freeze, and I cut off the dead leaves a few weeks ago, when it looked like the freezing nights were over. So, it looks like hell right now, but it’s starting to grow back. They grow from a succession of stems (pseudostems, I think they call them), growing up through the middle of the trunk. I’m hoping that inside that thick trunk right now is the fruiting stem that will flower and produce a bunch of bananas this year. Eric said they usually take two years to produce fruit. After the fruit, the main stem dies back and needs to be cut down. But around the plant, smaller “pups” have been growing out of the root mass, and one or two of those will become main stems after the largest one dies down. I have been planning to cut a couple of the pups out and transplant them nearby (there are four right now), but I haven’t done that yet. Here are some more pics:
Will they grow in a pot in fair oaks?
We have two clumps of banana trees in our front yard, which I started with two purchased plants that were about 4″ tall. I think we’re in our third winter right now, and between the two clumps there are about 8 trees, some around 12 feet tall. Pups are always cropping up. Last summer we had to stems of bananas. the first was 60 bananas, and the second one 90. They were delicious. Very sweet. We’re in the rosemont community area of Sac.
I also was given a free banana plant from a woman in west sac who has a lot of tall ones in her yard. It’s growing, but only about 6 feet tall now. I don’t see any way to post pictures here, so…….
Hello
I’m interested in buying some Banana trees/ plants from Eric
Can you please send me his information so I may contact him.
Also does anyone know where I can buy an avocado tree I just built a new home and I have several citrus that I’m getting ready to plant and I would love to put in avocado as well as a Bana tree in our years of living in Puerto Rico we had banana trees unfortunately I could never bring any baby trees back to the states and I never knew you could grow banana trees in Northern California I am very excited
Thank you
Hey Colleen, I see all of your comments. They did come through. Eric’s contact info is in the post, highlighted in orange up near the top. I found an avocado tree at Green Acres Nursery a few years ago, but it didn’t survive. They’re pretty picky and this climate is marginal for them. You can try Green Acres in Sacramento or other large nurseries. Just not Home Depot or something like that.
I picked up several fruit trees from Morning Sun in Vacaville. Been buying herbs fron them for 20 years. High quality! Good luck.
Hello
I’m interested in buying some Banana trees/ plants from Eric
Can you please send me his information so I may contact him
Also does anyone know where I can buy an avocado tree I just built a new home and I have several citrus that I’m getting ready to plant and I would love to put an avocado as well as a Banana tree in our years of living in Puerto Rico we had banana trees unfortunately I could never bring any baby trees back to the states and I never knew you could grow banana trees in Northern California I am very excited
Thank you
Thank you so much for you response and I saw your email
Thank you again
Im in Fair Oaks and can confirm that multiple types of bananas fruit here and make excellent trees.
Hey Tyler, do you have some varieties you could post another comment about? What time of year do you get fruit? I’m sure hoping to see some well before December next time!
Hello, I also can not find his contact info online. Can I please get his number or email as well? Thank you so much!
After sending you his info, I realized I should contact Eric and see if he’d like me to post his info here so everyone can have it. Good luck growing your bananas, Molly!
Hi, I am looking for short banana trees about 2-3 feet tall. Need 4 of them. Is it possible to buy from Eric’s farm? I do not have Eric’s contact number or email.
Hey Murali,
I can send you his contact at the email you used for this comment. I don’t know if he has any short varieties – when I bought from him three years ago, it was mostly one variety, all tall. But he may know where to get some small ones. I have seen Green Acres Nursery (especially the Roseville store) stock some different varieties, but I don’t know if any are dwarf. Look for an email from me. And good luck!
Thank you so much, Steve, for the quick response.
Hello! I am looking for a banana tree pup for my mother to plant in Davis, CA. If I could get contact information for Eric George (I also cannot find any online) that would be greatly appreciated!
Hi Adalyn,
I’ll email you at the address you provided with the comment. I hope he can help you out!
Steve
I would love his contact info as well!
Hey Jeanine, it’s in the post, just scroll up to where it says “major update” in orangey-yellow.
While I’m here, I ought to provide an update. The banana clump is vigorous and growing very well. This past winter didn’t freeze very hard. I had some brown leaves and stems to cut out, but not as much as before. The oldest stem is probably 13-15 feet tall now, and we are hoping to see a fruiting stem come out of it this summer! Cross our fingers! :)
I did try transplanting one of the pups last year, and it didn’t work – digging it out caused too much damage to its roots. I’ve read there are two different kinds of pups, and I should choose one with more sword-like foliage, as they have more roots of their own. I’ve been shy to try since the one experience didn’t work, so the clump is just spreading from the root crown, close together.
We bought two “snow bananas” from a nursery this spring — they looked bad from winter die-back, but that’s just normal for bananas. However, the nursery sold them to us at a 75% discount because nobody wanted to risk buying them. They’ve greened up but haven’t grown a lot in two months. I need to more regularly fertilize them, I think.
Hello Steve
I tried to post a comment but unfortunately it would not allow me too post my comment it was telling me I had already said the word banana and it’s a duplicate so here’s the question how do I get a hold of Eric I would love to purchase a banana tree and I was wondering if you knew where I could purchase an avocado tree I just built a new home in Dickson and it’s being built on farmland and they grew everything on that farm so the soil is going to be amazing I have lots of citrus to be planted looking for an avocado and banana tree
Thank you for any information you can provide
It’s supposed to say DIXON
Oh my boy am I having a day
I guess that’s what happens when you have a toddler you don’t sleep and voice texting and not correcting my apologies Dixon should be for this reply it’s very early
Hey Chris, I do have his phone number. I’ll respond to the email you used to enter this comment. If you don’t get it, email me at steve [at] valleygardens.com
DIXON
oh my that’s what I get for voice texting LOL
Hey everyone, if you are looking for avocado trees green acres has all the major Mexican varieties and sometimes they have an oddball like sir prize I snagged a few years back. You can also try fair oaks nursery they usually have a large selection of avocado varieties both A type and B type. As far as bananas go there are a few varieties that do better than others being more cold hearty, dwarf Orinoco is my winner so far having a shorter fruiting cycle, blue Java is cold hearty too but takes a bit longer to fruit, and im about to trial rajapuri with is suppose to be the best for 9b being short in fruit cycle and cold hearty. Hope this helps! ??
Matt, thanks so much for posting this! I think I need to try Orinoco bananas. I got a Blue Java from our mutual friend Vince, and I’m excited to see how it does. At this point, I’m disappointed with Cavendish – well, it’s still great for foliage, but after flowering multiple times and not getting viable fruit, I’m giving up hope of eating home-grown bananas from it! I also tried an avocado a few years ago, but it didn’t survive. If I could find room, it would be good to try again and plant it differently (in a mound), with some shade protection while young, and with a pollenizer. Thanks!
Hello,
Do you happen to have contact info for Eric I cannot find any.