How to grow bananas in the Pacific Northwest!

Ok. I'll bet you think I'm joking right? Well. I'm not. My cousin, Jill, has a huge banana plant growing in her backyard (near the house). How pray-tell did she keep it from dying in the winter you ask?

Burlap sacks and christmas lights!

Wrap the banana tree with burlap and string lights all the way around and up and down the tree. Keep the lights on all season until mid Spring, early summer. It may be necessary to keep the burlap on longer than that to insure that the tree doesn't freeze.

The burlap and the small amount of heat and energy from the christmas lights keeps the leaves from freezing.

Here is to having a bit of the tropics in the "other" rainforest!
:-)