... Best Growing Zones for Banana Trees. The stems will be obliterated and your once proud banana plant will be reduced to a few pathetic shoots emerging from the roots. If you live farther up North, place your banana trees in containers and bring them inside during the colder months. Most fruiting bananas are cold hardy down to growing zones 9 through 11. Cold hardy ornamental banana plants for temperate gardens and potted banana leaf plants for indoor growing. I have them planted around my pool. The Cold Hardy Banana Tree or ‘Basjoo’ is an ornamental banana tree with a tropical look, but it won’t produce fruit. Gardeners as far north as North Carolina should be able to cold hardy grow banana plants in their garden. Banana trees have been proven to survive the cold frigid winters of below zero temperatures. Fall Fertilizing: Essential Tips to Make Your Yard Grow, Everything You Need to Know About Willow Hybrid Trees, Everything You Need to Know About Burning Bush, Everything You Need to Know About Limelight Hydrangea Trees. The banana tree more resistant to cold , which in theory can hold up to around -20ºC . A very large banana plant can grow up to 17 feet in a single season with most of the banana growth occurring between June and Septembe. There are a handful of bananas described as root hardy, but as the name implies, it is the only roots that will survive. Cold hardy banana trees can be planted in your yard, in a pot on your patio, or in a large pot inside your home next to a window. The idea of a Northern planting of cold hardy banana plants is exciting to a gardener from a State that is North of Florida, Louisiana or Texas. Its natural distribution area is southern China, mainly the Sichuan province, although it is more common to see it in Japan, where it is cultivated for the extraction of fiber (which gives it its common name, Japanese fiber banana). Plant the sucker in a hole that’s three feet wide and two feet deep. Cold hardy bananas must not be confused with frost hardy. Cold hardy banana trees should be fertilized once every two to four weeks in the summer. Buy banana trees for sale at Plant Delights Nursery. If Papaya can be grown in a container or in a greenhouse, I believe Feijoa, Surinam Cherry, Pineapple Guava, Cold Hardy Avocado, Cavendish Banana, Dragon fruit, and Loquats can be grown in cold to mild climates such as Zone 4-7. The way Japanese Banana manages to live through cold climates is that all the foliage dies down to the ground in the winter, the deep roots stay alive below the frost line, the next summer the tree grows full size again up to an astonishing 10’-15′ by the end of the summer. No bananas will be able to tolerate a proper freeze and survive in tact. Fill the hole with soil that’s half original dirt and half amended soil from well-rotted compost or aged manure. Banana Plants for sale here at Plant Delights Nursery.