You haven't lived until you plant a hardy banana in your garden. The tropical looking leaves typically reach 8 feet long, and the plant can grow to almost 20 feet tall. The only problem with banana plants is that they look terrible in winter. When temperatures drop to near freezing, the leaves turn brown and fold down over the stem. Don't remove them as they'll help protect the stem from cold damage. The stem of the banana is made up only of rolled up leaves. As temperature drops below freezing, the leaves in the stem die down from the top. Hence how tall a banana you'll get the next summer is determined by how far back the leaves in the trunk froze back. In mid-March, go out and rip all of the old leaves off. Then climb the ladder and begin cutting down from the top of the mushy plant. Stop as soon as you run into healthy green leaf tissue. That's where new growth will begin. If we suffered a hard winter, the top could freeze all of the way down to the roots. Your banana will grow back, but it will only get about 12 feet tall. If we had a mild winter, the leaves in the stem may have suffered little damage, and will begin growing from high up. If that's the case, your banana may reach 20 feet tall, and it might even produce bananas. Don't eat the fruit of Musa basjoo or you may never need to eat a prune for the rest of your life. The bananas are extremely hardy and are used to make an expensive fabric in Japan. After it fruits, the mama plant will die. Don't worry, there will be plenty of pups growing near by to take her place. One last note: Look for Musa 'Darjeeling Giant'. This 20 foot banana has reddish leaves and produces delicious edible bananas. It's supposed to be hardy in Seattle, but no one's sure. Hey, for something this exciting, it's worth forking out the bucks to give it a try!