Ensete ventricosum Maurelii

With a common name of Abyssinian banana you just know you need to have this in any garden for a truly tropical feel. The huge paddle shaped leaves have a green back ground with a purple edge giving a lovely accent to each leaf as they unfurl with a gloss sheen to add an excellent finish. The thick trunk forms a fountain like structure to this fast growing architectural plant. Even though they aren't fully hardy they can over winter in the milder areas of the UK. When watered and fed well they can produce a new leaf as regular as weekly and grow fastest when planted in the ground. Height up to 3m and 2m spread.