There’s various species of bananas and I found a lovely one on 25 June in the Winter Garden Glasshouse at Dunedin Botanic Garden, New Zealand. It was in the Tropical House which is also where I saw the Spanish Moss and the Aristolochia gigantea. I visited again the next day with Nigel. The attraction with this particular banana was its very colourful flowers.
Click on ANY photo below to enlarge
The flowers were hidden behind big lush leaves and I nearly missed them. I saw a glimpse of bright pink and pushed through the leaves to investigate, finding this lovely flower. You can also see part of a bunch of bananas in the background.
On my return on 26 June I got a photo of the bunch of bananas.
Second flower I found on the 25th, was awkward to get a photo of this one!
The 26th was a sunny day so Nigel’s photo of the flower is brightly lit.
I’d had no idea banana flowers could be so showy and colourful!
“The Tropical House is maintained at an average daytime temperature of between 22°C and 28°C with high humidity levels suited to plants from tropical regions of the world.” –from a page about the Winter Garden Glasshouse at the Garden’s website.
Text by Liz, photos by Liz and Nigel; Exploring Colour (2020)
What a color scheme. They really are beautiful, but I’ll bet they don’t taste any better than the ones growing outside my apartment.
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Fabulous they’re outside your apartment.. so those taste great?
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Nope. They’re terrible. Even the critters won’t eat them. It could be that they don’t have a long enough growing season, or something. The ones we bought in Liberia by the stalk were really good.
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Ah! that’s a shame. If nothing eats them I guess they sit there and look pretty! Do they go yellow?
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They do, but they’re a kind of dirty yellow-green, and quite short. For all I know, they could have been bred for decorative qualities rather than taste. If we get a hard freeze, the plants go mushy and disintegrate, but they they come back the next spring.
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Cor, they look amazing! I love that vibrant pink. 🙂
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Yes.. the pink is almost startling!
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It’s fun to be startled by flowers, hehe!
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Showy indeed.
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These banana flowers were such a nice surprise 🙂
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Very cool flowers, Liz!
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I was so surprised how glowingly bright they were.. thanks Ellen!
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Incredible and fascinating!
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Oh I’m glad you think so too Donna!
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I hadn’t any idea, either, they’re pretty exotic-looking, aren’t they!
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They fair shone!
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