Garden: 5 Good Reasons To Adopt The Golden Lotus Dwarf Banana Tree.

If you are looking for a tropical flowering plant to bring a touch of exoticism to your garden, you may find happiness with the Chinese dwarf banana or Musella lasiocarpa. This easy-to-care-for plant is particularly decorative. We will list for you 5 good reasons to adopt this golden lotus dwarf banana.

1- It doesn't take up much space.

There are multiple reasons to adopt the Chinese dwarf banana tree or Musella lasiocarpa in your garden, starting with its small size. As its name suggests, this subtropical perennial plant from the Musaceae family stays compact in size, making it suitable for any garden.

The golden lotus dwarf banana tree produces a small pseudo-trunk and forms a clump that reaches 1.5 meters in width. Its small size is a first advantage to find a place for it in your garden, preferably in a warm and sunny location.

2- It withstands cold weather well.

This variety is also interesting for its hardiness up to -10°C, or even -15°C in good conditions. Once mature, this subtropical plant withstands cold well, provided it is given a well-draining soil and its base is protected with a thick mulch.

This variety, native to the Yunnan region in China, is sometimes called the "snow banana". In its native region, it is still cultivated at altitudes up to 2800m.

Due to its geographical origin, it is much more resistant to cold and wind than other banana trees. Provide it with a rich and well-draining substrate composed of one quarter garden soil, one quarter compost, one quarter well-decomposed manure, and one quarter pumice or coarse sand.

Attention: it is best to avoid planting young specimens in the ground during winter. It is preferable to wait until May to carry out the planting. Whether you grow them in pots or in the ground, young specimens need to be placed in a frost-free location.

Do not worry if your Chinese dwarf banana tree loses its leaves in winter! Its above-ground parts die and fall off at -2°C, but the stems regrow vigorously in the following spring.

3- It has a very dense foliage.

If you want to create an exotic garden in our latitudes, the aesthetic aspect of the golden lotus dwarf banana tree is another argument in favor of this variety. This perennial herbaceous plant has semi-evergreen foliage that resembles that of a banana tree (which is a cousin plant of the genus Musa).

Its pseudo-trunk or stipe bears a crown of large leaves with a beautiful bluish-green color. To preserve this beautiful tropical-looking foliage, it needs to be watered abundantly during the growing season and the watering water should be enriched with liquid fertilizer every 15 days.

However, this species is sensitive to excess water in winter. In case of rainy or very cold winters, it is advisable to protect the Chinese dwarf banana tree with a transparent rain cover.

4- It offers a spectacular flowering.

The foliage is not the only attraction of this Chinese dwarf banana tree and the Musella lasiocarpa truly deserves its name of golden lotus. When it blooms, it produces a dense spike of thick yellow bracts that resemble a lotus flower.

One must be patient to witness this spectacle as this banana tree develops leafy stems for 2 to 4 years before flowering. Moreover, being monocarpic, it only blooms once before dying. Fortunately, the plant produces multiple shoots before flowering.

The true flowers are small and develop at the base of the bracts. The blooming period can last between 6 months and a year. When fertilized, the flowers produce a small fruit containing seeds that can be germinated.

5- Its flower is sacred in Buddhist culture.

The sacred nature of this plant is the last of the 5 good reasons to adopt the golden lotus dwarf banana tree in your garden.

This plant is often represented in Buddhist temples or cultivated near these sacred places. Indeed, in Buddhist culture, the lotus flower is a symbol of purification, reincarnation, and rebirth.

The growth of this flower, which grows in muddy water and rises to reach the light, is also considered a symbol of spiritual enlightenment and expansion of the soul. In Chinese Buddhism in particular, the lotus flower is sacred because it is the seat of the Buddha.