Musa acuminata balbisiana Ice Cream - Banana

The Banana Tree or Musa acuminata 'Ice Cream', also known as the 'Blue Java' banana, is a hybrid tropical cultivar highly prized for its ornamental foliage and its bluish fruits with sweet, creamy flesh. With a vertical and majestic habit, this banana plant stands out with its large blue-green leaves with silvery highlights and its ability to produce bananas with a flavour reminiscent of vanilla ice cream. Ideal for growing in open ground in mild climates or in pots in colder areas, it enjoys sunny positions, rich, moist soil, and good ambient humidity. However, its cultivation requires some winter precautions, especially below –5 °C. Spectacular and productive, it naturally finds its place in exotic gardens, sheltered patios or temperate greenhouses.

Musa acuminata 'Ice Cream' belongs to the Musaceae family. It is also found under the names Musa x 'Blue Java', Musa × acuminata x balbisiana (ABB group) 'Ice Cream'. It is a triploid hybrid banana resulting from a cross between Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana. It is renowned for its fruits with blue-green waxy skin and white, creamy flesh with a delicate flavour reminiscent of vanilla ice cream. Native to Southeast Asia, this cultivar has spread to various tropical and subtropical regions. Its growth is vertical, with a thick pseudostem formed by overlapping leaf sheaths. Growth is moderate to fast, with possible fruit set after 3 years of cultivation, and ripe fruits about 4 to 5 months after flowering. In open ground, this banana can reach between 4.5 and 6 metres in height, while in a pot it remains more compact, from 1.5 to 3 metres. It produces lateral offshoots that ensure the survival of the stump. The pendulous inflorescences consist of purple bracts and unisexual flowers. The fruits, clustered in bunches, measure 18 to 23 centimetres, with sweet, melting and fragrant flesh. The leaves are large, oblong, dark green, slightly silvery on the underside, sometimes reaching one metre in length. The pseudostem is smooth, without true bark, and has a firm, cylindrical base. The root system is centred around an underground corm from which fibrous roots and offshoots emerge. This cultivar has gained notoriety for its taste qualities and relative cold tolerance, although it is mainly grown in mild climates.

In a scene reminiscent of tropical forest edges, the ‘Ice Cream’ Banana can only be grown in open ground in the mildest gardens. Elsewhere, it can be equally productive when grown in a pot, and displays its elegant habit and broad, slightly silvery leaves. It alone is enough ornament for the conservatory, heated greenhouse or a very bright room. It associates well with other exotic plants such as the bird of paradise Strelitzia reginae , for example, or Colocasia ‘Black Magic’.

Just like perennial plants, bananas are dormant during winter: their above-ground parts dry and die.  Plants dispatched in winter are therefore cut back to the ground (leaves and stems) by our teams to ensure a better start for the plant in spring.