The clocks have fallen back, the nights are growing darker, and now temperatures are starting to dip below 10-12°C, if you have any tropical plants in your garden, it’s time to act if you want them to see spring again. Fortunately, Monty Don has some great advice on the topic, which I turn to each year.
According to the gardening expert and presenter, to overwinter tropical plants in the UK, you need to move them indoors before temperatures drop below 10-12°C – although there are a few exceptions to the rule. Overwintering is simply the act of prepping or moving your plants to survive the winter, and as you can imagine, it’s crucial for plants that originate from a more tropical climate.
While Monty Don lists bananas, salvias, citrus, pomegranates, olives, pelargoniums, succulents, fuchsias, eucomis and hedychium among those that need cosseting, I have found (through careful trial and error) that there is one exception to the rule…
Monty Don’s tip for overwintering tropical plants
Writing on his blog, Monty Don notes that you should bring your tender tropicals in and get them undercover before they need protection. However, overwintering cannas and dahlias is a little different. He says they’re the exception, which can be left in situ until the first signs of frost damage have affected them.’
Elsewhere, he goes into more detail about overwintering his banana plants in particular, noting that he cuts them back in October, removes the leaves, trims the roots, pots the stumps, and stores them in a cool shed with fleece at the ready.
It’s meticulous, thoughtful, and entirely necessary…if you’re growing tender bananas like the Abyssinian Ensete ventricosum ‘Maurelii’. But here’s the thing: not all banana plants are created equal.
Why my hardy banana breaks Monty’s rule
In our own garden, my husband (who’s RHS-trained and very particular about such things) and I grow Musa basjoo, aka the hardiest banana you can buy, and the one most likely to survive a British winter… with the right care.
Ours sits in a south-facing, sheltered corner against a warm fence, basking in every scrap of sunshine it can find. And, because Musa basjoo is so much tougher than its tender cousins, we don’t follow Monty’s tip for overwintering tropical plants to the letter. Instead of digging it up and moving it into the shed, we leave it in place and protect it where it stands.
Yes, really! When the first light frosts arrive, it signals the plant to slow down and prepare for dormancy, which we see as our moment to act. We cut all the leaves off just above the top of the stem (it hurts my heart every single time, but needs must) and then wrap the remaining trunk snugly in horticultural fleece, ensuring there are no gaps for moisture or frost to creep in.
For extra insurance, we add a second layer of hessian, tied firmly in place. The hessian not only looks tidier than a roll of white fleece flapping about but also provides additional insulation while allowing the plant to breathe.
Finally, we give it a good old mulching, partly to sate my husband’s burning desire to mulch anything and everything (he’s a man obsessed), but also to keep the base of our banana warm.
To try this for yourself, you will need…
Now, we’re based in the south east, so that’s our overwintering prep done. However, if your garden is somewhere colder or more exposed, you can (and probably should) also heap straw around the base before wrapping to protect the crown.
Honestly, the fleece-and-hessian method has never failed us. Come April, we peel away the layers and find the stem perfectly intact, ready to send out more enormous green fans and bring a burst of the tropics back to our very English garden.
That’s not to say that I don’t adore Monty Don’s tip for overwintering tropical plants; my pomegranate always comes indoors for the ‘ber months, along with our pelargoniums. Still, it really would be (ahem) bananas to dig up our Musa basjoo when we didn’t have to, right?
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