BC – Dwarf Nam Wah Bananas

Nam Wah is an excellent small banana— sweet, moist, and richly flavored. The dwarf variety has the same fruit, but makes a short, stocky plant that is easy to maintain, and can stand up to Florida winds.

Consumers should be aware that most varieties of banana reach peak ripeness and flavor not when they are an attractive, uniform yellow (or red, for red varieties) color, but when they have formed brown spots and have softened to some degree. “Over the hill” is actually just right, for most bananas. Experiment to find your favorite point of ripeness.

At SweetSong, our six Dwarf Nam Wah banana plants form one of our banana circles, a technique from permaculture in which a central pit is surrounded by a mound planted with bananas, and plant prunings and pulled weeds are regularly tossed into the pit area to compost and eventually feed the surrounding plants. “Closing the cycle” in this way is part of our ecological, regenerative approach.