I don't think any banana will grow from seed and give you shade in one season.
I would try buying some plants on line or on e-bay,look around for the best deal.
Adding sand manure mushroom compost,etc will do the job and fertilizing regularly.
Part to full sun and lots of water!
Saba,Basjoo or some other,
just look for bananas that get 12'or more,they usually grow the fastest.

Yeh, bananas from seed probably wont even grow past a foot or 2 in a growing season. They are faster from babies (pups from the mother plant), but still will probably take 2-3 years to get big enough to make shade. Dont get the dwarfs though because they wont grow takk enough to make shade.

Good luck!

I recommend ice creams, cavendish (not dwarfs), and basjoos if you want a fast growing banana.

Sabas get very large with large circumference trunks-maybe this would help with overwintering. You can order very good plants from going bananas in Homestead, FL.

I purchased my Raja Puri from Going Bananas at K-Mart about three years ago. Plant was properly tagged with instructions and web address for additional information.They seem to have a good operation...As suggested , if you can start out with a young potted plant it is possible you will be enjoying a tall plant before end of summer. You being somewhat close to the Gulf, if you vacation down there or know someone who travels down there, try to have them pick you up a plant from one of the many nurseries all along the Gulf Coast. Many probably have old stock sitting in greenhouses. Past three years I have noticed some of the nurseries on the way to Gulf Shores,Alabama start bringing them in around mid March. I purchased two small IceCreams in quart size containers for $12 each last year and kept them in my basement until end of April and planted. They were about 10' tall with 10-12 inch trunks by end of last summer. I was very happy with the output of growth. In the B'ham area, you have to look very hard to find Bananas other than the dwarf variaties and when you do find a Basjoo or something else they usually run in the $25 range and is always a posibility it is mis-labeled if labeled at all.

i would normally reccomend going banas as well but this site is having an amazing sale for a few days, shipping is flat too.

they have a variety called ITERANS Banana tree, Gets 35' tall. anyone have anymore info on this cultivar?

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.greenhousebusiness.com/bananaplants.html

I was considering purchasing from them but I wasn't very impressed with their Garden Watchdog ratings...