winter clean up

I have been getting a lot of calls about pruning back dead/frost killed folage, mostly bananas and cannas.

I cut bananas back at about waste level. Doing this forces the plant to come back a taller than cutting it off at ground level, which is the suggested pruning method if you are trying to produce bananas. Our growing season is generally too short for a banana to produce fruit. By leaving a "trunk" the leaves are pushed up higher producing a taller plant faster. A&M suggests using the prunings as mulch. Makes sense.

I cut cannas back to ground level. This is a messy, mushy job, but it really needs to be done to keep things neat and clean and to avoid diseases.