Musa basjoo is native to Sichuan, China, despite its common name and the Japanese word for banana — basho — embedded in its epithet. Its claim to garden fame is cold hardiness: the rhizomes survive down to minus 10 degrees Fahrenheit when properly mulched, and even in USDA zones 5 through 8 the plant re-emerges from the base each spring with remarkable speed. The bright green, paddle-shaped leaves grow up to 6 feet long and 2 feet wide, arching from a thick pseudostem formed by overlapping leaf sheaths rather than true woody tissue. Creamy to yellow tubular flowers appear in summer, followed by small, inedible fruits.

The cultivation rhythm is simple but consistent: keep the soil moist, fertilize through the growing season, and after the first frost cuts the leaves down, trim the pseudostem to about 2 feet and wrap it in burlap or plastic before applying a thick mulch layer over the roots. In containers, repot every other year. In the ground, divide every five years or so. The Japanese banana is best placed in a sheltered spot away from wind, where its theatrical scale can be appreciated without the leaves turning ragged.