Banana Tree Republic

Last year around birthday time, Don's mother e-mailed me and asked me for suggestions for him and Deanna, whose birthday follows his by 2 weeks. I asked Don for his list and, in a rare display of forethought, he produced A LIST! Usually, he suggests socks and underwear and I have to pull teeth to get the occasional belt or shirt suggestion out of him.

I excitedly began typing the list in my e-mail response. Don's handwriting alone could have qualified him for medical school, so I struggled a little. He helped me with some of the electronics he wanted, explaining what he needed and how it worked. The rest I thought I understood, since the bottom of the list was all gift certificates to various places, including Lowe's.

Three days later, Don came into the kitchen laughing, with a copy of my e-mail in his hand.

"So, you thought I wanted a gift certificate to Banana Tree, huh?"

"Yeah, but what the heck IS Banana Tree. I thought perhaps you meant Banana Republic, but I just copied the list the way I read it."

"What it should have said, honey, was banana tree. I want a banana tree to plant in the front yard, not a gift certificate." Don obviously thought this was hilariously funny.

A BANANA TREE? That's bizarre, which I was very quick to tell him. Turns out he had talked with a friend of ours who works for the forestry and has his Masters in some kind of plant-something - anyway, he's quite an expert in plants and trees, what they do, how they grow, etc., and he had recommended a banana tree to Don for a specific situation Don described.

Two weeks later a box arrived for Don. It was from his parents and contained - - you guessed it, a banana tree. It's only supposed to grow as high as 5 feet and will get small, edible bananas on it. Way cool, we thought. Don read up on it, we chose a place in the yard, dug a huge hole, filled in halfway with mulch mixed with fertilizer, and planted his tree. It grew from the end of September until we left for England in November. We were a little concerned about how it'd do, so we asked Grandpa to put another wheelbarrow full of pine mulch on the top after we left.

When we returned in February, all the leaves were dead and there was a small stump poking out of the ground. We were afraid it was dead, but Don was very hopeful. He said that he research indicated that the top would die off each winter, but the roots would live and it would re-sprout each spring.

When it began to grow again in March, we got very excited. It's grown and grown and has to be close to 5 feet now. Still no edible bananas, but it may take a few years for that to happen. When we came home after being gone over the weekend, it seemed like it had grown another foot in 2 days. With the bud of each new leaf, it adds about another 6 inches in heighth.

I'm sure glad he asked for a banana tree and not a gift certificate to Banana Tree. This has been loads more fun. I'll post pictures soon of the boys with the tree so you can get a feel for the size. And I'll be sure to post a picture of us chowing down on ripe, small bananas as soon as I can.