Other Names:  Red Dacca Banana, Red Cavendish Banana

Description:

A red ornamental banana with sweet fruit that ripens deep red to maroon; best suited to warm temperate climates; a nice landscape accent or container plant

Ornamental Features

Red Dacca Banana is a wonderfully ornamental plant with characteristically tropical foliage, uniquely interesting flowers and delicious edible fruit. Its attractive enormous glossy oval leaves remain green in color with curious burgundy undersides throughout the season. This plant features bold panicles of burgundy flowers dangling from the stems in late summer. The fruits are showy dark red bananas with purple overtones, which are carried in abundance from early to late fall. The dark red stems are very colorful and add to the overall interest of the plant.

This plant is primarily grown as an ornamental, but it's also valued for its edible qualities. The sweet bananas are most often used in the following ways:

• Fresh Eating
• Cooking
• Baking

Landscape Attributes

Red Dacca Banana is an herbaceous tropical perennial with a towering form, with a high canopy of foliage concentrated at the top of the plant. Its wonderfully bold, coarse texture can be very effective in a balanced garden composition.

This plant will require occasional maintenance and upkeep, and should never be pruned except to remove any dieback, as it tends not to take pruning well. It has no significant negative characteristics.

Red Dacca Banana is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Accent
• General Garden Use
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

Red Dacca Banana will grow to be about 20 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 10 feet. It has a low canopy with a typical clearance of 4 feet from the ground. It grows at a fast rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 30 years. As an herbaceous perennial, this plant will usually die back to the crown each winter, and will regrow from the base each spring. Be careful not to disturb the crown in late winter when it may not be readily seen!

Bananas are curious plants in a botanical sense. Strictly speaking they are perennials, with individual shoots rising up from underground rhizomes and maturing in one to two years, then ultimately dying after producing fruit, to be replaced by new shoots from the base. However, given their ultimate size and coarseness they almost behave as small trees in the landscape. This plant does best in full sun to partial shade. It does best in average to evenly moist conditions, but will not tolerate standing water. It may require supplemental watering during periods of drought or extended heat. This plant is a heavy feeder that requires frequent fertilizing throughout the growing season to perform at its best. It is not particular as to soil pH, but grows best in rich soils. It is somewhat tolerant of urban pollution. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

Red Dacca Banana is a fine choice for the garden, but it is also a good selection for planting in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.