The odds are against you, but if you're willing to go to a good deal of extra trouble, why not give it a try. If you have a south or west facing wall - ideally a masonry one - that will absorb heat during the day and release it at night, that would be an ideal site. Further protection involving microfoam, white reflective poly sheeting and a structure to support it would probably be necessary. Deep mulching around the roots would also be essential. One possible way to do the latter is to use 2" think foam insulation at least 4x4 feet weighted down on the ground. This should prevent freezing of the soil.

The trouble is that even if the plant survives, it may die back to the ground each year and never reach maturity so that it blooms. You might be happier trying it as a containe plant.

Thanks for the encouragement. I think I'll try both an outdoor plant and an indoor, though I've had much better success in the past with my outdoor plants. I really have no windows that get much sun.

i have a friend.. who does banana where he isnt supposed to do it ...

i believe he drags them into the walkout basement in fall ...

you are suggesting 2 zone leap .. odds are very low ... in my estimate ...

ken

Too cold.

I'm in western PA near Pittsburgh,about the same weather as Columbus Ohio or Indianapolis Indiana. Not sure what "Ground freeze zone 6" means. The ground does freeze and heave here though, in the middle of winter. But doesn't it everywhere in zone 6A?

not necessarily ... zone is based ONLY only low temp ...

in theory.. it can hit that temp for only a few days ... so it doesnt necessarily follow that the ground would have to freeze ...

regardless .. most tropical plants.. roots.. can not stand the freeze of the soil ... it just rots them ... so it wouldnt matter how much above-ground protection you add ...

ken

They rot because they froze and died. It only takes a few hours below a plant's minimum temperature for it to freeze. The particular problem with the freezing of the soil in the north is that it penetrates deeply, gets to all the roots.

Banana shrub is marginal in Zone 8. Zone 6, no way. Grow it as a tub specimen that is overwintered under cover.

I had not come across this shrub, Michelia figo, so I looked it up. It is described by UK nurseries as half-hardy and possibly hardy in mild areas in the British Isles. So it seems pretty doubtful that it would hang on in z.6.

Here is a link that might be useful: Michelia figo

There's at least one good sized one here in the Knoxville area (officially zone 6b). It's over at the University of Tennessee and has been there as long as I remember. It has no extra protection except it's a few hundred feet from a river. The actually hardiness zone of Knoxville is now probably around 7b, but your effective hardiness zone may be different than what you've seen also (I don't know what FLA stands for).

Dear bboy,
In the Southeastern US, banana shrub is hardy in Zone 7B. Perhaps Zone 8 is chillier there in the Pacific Northwest?

I suspect this is the same as the claims that used to be repeated here that Loropetalum was hardy in Zone 7 in the southeast. When I finally got somebody to get down to brass tacks they said that it was Zone 7 because it sometimes got down to 10 degrees F.

That is a Zone 8 kind of cold.

Loropetalums aren't that unusual around here either. Our average annual minimum, in recent years, is around 8 degrees F, and in cold years we get down close to zero. The Magnolia figo I mentioned earlier has probably been around since our annual minimums averaged quite a bit lower than they do now.

Hey what about Michelia Allspice cold hardiness in USDA zone 7b bordering 8, 10F lowest but most of the time around freezing!?

Doh - didn't realize this was an old thread bump. To answer the bumper - no, "around freezing" isn't an issue, per se. 10F lowest though - once a winter, twice a winter, or once a week? Why don't you just say roughly where in the world you are? I think these shrubs are very uncommon north of say, Virginia Beach on the east coast. Or north of the immediate gulf states in the south.

original response:

With some shrubs from hot-summer parts of Asia, hot summers can add a smidgen of hardiness. Not enough to grow a M. figo in Pittsburgh. Although I will point out my experimental M. skinneri has resprouted with gusto here in a z7 a/b border area. So, there's that...at least it is strong growing. But even here it's going to take a long string of less-cold winters to get satisfactory garden performance...i.e., blooming. I've somewhat longer had "Magnolia dianica"- whatever that is called now - and it's bloomed satisfactorily maybe 2 out of the 5 last winters, 1/2 of the last 8. Flowers are small and rather boring - with a not very rich lemony smell. It takes a little too much of a beating to just be grown for foliage. So again I keep these 2 strictly for experimental purposes around here. Rarefind had some expensive hybrid involving figo they were calling hardier a couple years ago...going to plant that out this year and see what happens.

davidrt28 (zone 7), the planting location would be in South East Bulgaria North West of The Bosphorus Strait/ Istanbul on the Balkans in South East Europe ( https://cdn.webvanta.com/000000/51/74/original/visual-editor-uploads/Europe%20map.jpg ) . Lowest of 10F happens 2 - 3 times a winter at night for a night or two. This winter the temperature has hardly gone below freezing. YET summers are hot and dry as Texas, Utah or Nevada in the same zone. The one I am interested is called Michelia x foggii 'allspice' said to have the most powerful spicy scent of all michelias, which I am after (wafting fragrance) in the first place not how it looks. Do you know the Rarefind coldier variety s name? Gail s Favourite is promoted as hardy to -15C (5F) in Europe.

Luckily, I had my plant spreadsheet open, this is the one I am going to try to plant this year:

http://www.rarefindnursery.com/index.php/trees-shrubs/magnolia/magnolia-frosty-pale-purple.html

OK, if you were in Denmark or Poland I might say forget it, but if you really are in a 8a borderline 7b location in SE Europe, with fairly hot summers, I would say, yes, try one. Try to give it a position sheltered from north winds, but also protected from morning sunlight in winter. By 'try one', I mean the hardiest clone of it you can find.

Later in spring I will probably post a picture of the damage to my M. skinneriana after 0F. It was not really a cold winter per se here, but we had a terrible cold spell in January. The first week of January was the coldest first week in Baltimore ever recorded, since 1871. I am not sure how much of the top will be able to regrow, most of the leaves are definitely brown now. Amazingly, without fertilization, the top had almost regrown to 2m/6.5 ft. after the polar vortex winter killed it to the ground. Took just 2 good, wet growing seasons. I see the same fast regrowth with M. dianica...but...again, most normal people don't want something in their garden that is looking damaged so often. So I wouldn't recommend these shrubs as standard garden material around here.

BTW native range of those plants would have at least 20 cm of rain each month in summer, here they clearly prefer the wetter summers...so be prepared to water! I think your summers are somewhat drier!

PS - surprising to read in this old thread that I guess I missed the first time, of a plant at UTK. Wonder if Brandon knows whether that plant is still around after the polar vortex winters? Would guess it was exposed to subzero F temps?

davidrt28, so you already have had your michelia s killed two the ground a few times? What were the lowest temperatures, do you recall? Simeone growing a Michelia Figo in Melbourn Australia told me they were quite drought tolerant there once established. What can you tell me about the scent of yours? Do they flower the first or secobd season after regrowing from the ground and is the scent caught in the air?

Yeah we had 2 extremely bad winters, 2013-2014 and 2014-2015. Lows were probably about 1F/-17C both times, but the main issue was how prolonged the cold was. Over a month, in both cases, of seldom going above freezing. In each winter, the temps plunged to < 5F, several times. Highs sometimes only around -10C. Lasted long into spring, too, with Baltimore having it's coldest March reading ever during one of the winters. Fortunately we had snow cover for the coldest nights. (part of the reason they were cold!) I got somewhat lucky...many weather stations in the region went below 0F/-18C for the first time since 1994.

It was getting such winters back-to-back that was the real problem. For example my 20' Euc. parvula was killed to the lower 20cm of the trunk, which had snow cover. It resprouted vigorously and would have been ok if the next winter had been normal. But the second "polar vortex" killed it outright. The same essentially happened to M. skinneriana, but it was able to recover a 2nd time.

My main damage report for the second winter is here (please do not bump, post here if you have a question): [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/ilex-x-scepter-anyone-growing-this-dsvw-vd~1644269[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/ilex-x-scepter-anyone-growing-this-dsvw-vd~1644269)

btw I would suppose all common evergreen magnolias are known to be drought tolerant once established - Magnolias are pretty much a tough group of plants!

We have not had such cold and for so long as you described. When did your michelias flower after having to regrow from the ground? And what can you tell me of their flowers scent? I am looking for a wafting fragrance.

" When did your michelias flower after having to regrow from the ground?"

No, it seems to me most plants of this type need at least one normal year before blooming again, usually more. After having to make a lot of foliar regrowth after a big freeze. Same with the various 'hardy gardenias'. So I have never seen my M. skinneriana bloom, unfortunately! It would probably have done so this year, were it not for the Jan. freeze.