Banana is a soft stemmed tropical plant whose broad paddle leaves rise from an underground corm rather than a woody trunk.
It is sold at 100cm in a nursery pot for AED 120.
Banana leaves tear along the veins in hot dry wind, and on an open Dubai roof terrace that starts by mid summer. The plant is also a heavy drinker, and a 45C afternoon can wilt it visibly by three o'clock even when the soil was damp that morning.
How to care for Banana in the UAE
Full sun to light shade with steady water and rich soil, plus feeding through the growing season. The usual failure here is under watering in July and August, when one missed day shows up as a collapsed leaf that never recovers its shape.
Where Banana works best
It suits a sheltered garden corner, an inner courtyard, or a wall that blocks the afternoon wind. Keep it out of the wind tunnels between villas. The rest of the garden stock sits in our outdoor plants collection.
FAQ
Will this Banana plant fruit in Dubai?
It can fruit in a sheltered garden given steady water and feeding, usually after a season or two of growth. Container grown plants fruit far less reliably.
How much space does a Banana plant need?
Allow well over a metre of clear width. The leaves arch outward and tear quickly if they rub against a wall or a railing.
