For more than a decade, there has been a trend towards making tropical borders. These borders are filled with lush foliage and colourful plants, some truly tropical or sub-tropical. A must-have plant for such borders is the banana, because its leaves are so dramatic. They can be 3m in length and about 50cm broad. And the foliage grows even larger on bigger, older plants.

The shape of the foliage is very evocative of the climate in which bananas grow naturally and gives the strongest possible signal of a tropical border.

Banana plants look like trees because they have thick tree-like stems, but they are not true trees. Botanically, they are non-woody, herbaceous plants. The tree-like trunks are made of wood, but are quite soft and fleshy, like those of flowers.

So, a banana plant is a perennial flower that sends up new shoots each year. In the right climate, these shoots produce a large flower stem, carry fruit and then wither away being replaced by new shoots.

Being tropical and subtropical plants, mostly from Asia originally, but now grown all over the tropical world, generally bananas are tender plants, unable to resist frost.

Only one species, the Japanese hardy banana, Musa basjoo, is capable of being grown outdoors year-round in this country. While some others might survive a mild winter or two outdoors, they do not last long and even then they struggle. The Japanese banana can be grown outdoors for many years, but only in mild areas near the coast or with protection in winter. It makes a plant about 3m tall, or a bit more in ideal conditions. In a cold winter, most years, the top leaves are either shattered by wind or cut down by frost. New leaves grow out in late spring and in a good summer they grow very rapidly.

Grown outdoors, the Japanese banana likes rich, fertile soil that does not dry out, with lots of organic material and a generous top dressing of mulch or well-rotted manure. It must have full sunshine and good shelter from winds that can shred the leaves into long strips. Even when shredded the leaves still function and make growth, but they do not look as well.

The Japanese banana can make quite a large plant, with the suckers or new shoots spreading outwards, so it needs to be grown a couple of metres away from other plants. Smaller plants like dahlias can be used to fill in around and in front of the taller banana plant. Small banana plants can be lifted and potted up to be taken under cover, but this is not possible with big plants and it’s not necessary in a mild area.

To protect from the cold, the plant can be covered with loose material, such as straw, though it might be necessary to set up a netting wire cage around it to keep the straw in place to more than one metre above ground.

The objective is to protect the stems, even if the leaves are destroyed or removed. Bananas can be grown under glass in a greenhouse or conservatory using a large pot, or in the open soil of the greenhouse. However, they can grow too big in the soil. They need frost protection on frosty nights.

In general, although banana plants may flower, they only fruit in a warm conservatory as there is usually not enough heat consistently available.

Other kinds of banana are sometimes sold as house plants. They are easy to grow, but watch for red spider mites to which they are prone.

Watch for die-back disease

The die-back disease, also known as sudden oak death, ironically is not seen on oaks in Europe, as it is in America, but it can affect other trees and shrubs.

Notably, it has attacked Japanese larch and large areas of woodland have had to be felled and cleared. It also attacks wild rhododendrons and these can be a source of spread.

Garden rhododendrons, viburnums, lilac, drimys, pieris and aucuba can be affected too, with withering of buds and twigs. It is possible that other shrubs may show infection and early infection and die-back on these plants should be cut out if spotted in the early stage, before the plant is severely affected.

It can be very severe on some species, such as drimys, causing severe defoliation and die-back.

Trees, shrubs and roses

Rose bushes can be pruned at any time, although some might have a few buds that can still be used indoors. Planting of bare-root deciduous trees, hedging and shrubs can go ahead during dry weather. Do not plant into heavy, wet ground or into planting holes that are filled with water.

Flowers

It is not too late to plant primroses, pansies and double daisies, or to pot up a couple of large pots or containers with cyclamen, skimmia and pernettya among others. Dahlias, begonias and gladioli should be lifted in frosty inland areas to prevent damage, or cover them with soil in milder areas.

Lawn

Lawn mosskiller, such as sulphate of iron, can still be applied. Otherwise, moss will grow vigorously in the coming months and can build up to competitive levels. An occasional mowing during winter is a good idea if the soil is not too wet. Trim the edges or re-cut them with an edging tool.

Fruit, veg and herbs

Spread compost before digging it in. Dig over vegetable ground, removing old crops. Control weeds over areas of ground that will be dug over later. Plant new fruit trees and bushes. Apply weed killers to established fruit trees and bushes. Prune fruit trees and bushes now.

Greenhouse and house plants

A greenhouse frost protection heater will save tender plants, such as geraniums or fuchsias, on a frosty night. A small electric heater is cheap to buy and cheap to run. Remove all debris and dead plants and ventilate the greenhouse occasionally. Water very little to reduce the risk of grey mould.