With the Fourth of July only hours away, gardening season is really "heating" up. Most people see the arrival of this holiday signaling that summer's half over, but for gardeners, after the 4th is with the real magic starts happening!

So with that in mind, I'd like to tell you about my Musa Basjoo ... or Giant Banana Plant! Nothing recreates the feel of a tropical paradise in your backyard like a tropical plant -- pictured here getting some "special" fertilizing from my mom's yorkie/maltese mix Brody.

However, since we live in Zone 6 territory, chances are that a tropical plant won't survive past October. But if you still crave that tropical feeling, there is hope.

The Musa Basjoo is the world's most cold hardy banana tree, and can be grown in all 50 states! It is hardy planted in ground to -3°F and with protective mulching it can survive temperatures reaching down to -20°F.

The plant has long, slender, bright green leaves and features one of the most beautiful flowering stalks of all banana trees. The Musa Basjoo is an ideal landscape plant, adding a tropical splash wherever it appears, even in cold temperate climates. Musa Basjoo also does very well in containers and makes a good interior plant.

In warm weather months it can grow up to 2 feet in a week. It's mature height is 18 feet. It can flower and bear fruits at 10 feet or whenever it has 35 leaves. The bananas are not edible. This handsome broad leaved variety can be grown in almost every state since it can handle temperatures of 15 to 20 degrees Fahrenheit if the ground is mulched properly in the very cold months. At 40 degrees it will stop actively growing and at 28 degrees the leaves will die back and the tree can be cut back to a 2'or 3' height.

Gardenweb.com has an entire "banana" forum dedicated to these wonderful plants. Check it out and you'll read about many folks who have tried this plant and are getting humongous results!

I first read about this plant last summer in another newspaper, featuring a man who lived in Manayunk with an 18-foot musa basjoo in his backyard. He said the plant was over 10 years old, dies back to the ground in winter and comes back bigger each summer.

So I decided I'd try it. I Googled it and came up with a small one at Lee's Tropicals in South Carolina with a price tag of $8.99. What the heck, if it didn't survive, I wasn't going to be out much. Another search of the Internet this year produced a nursery called Logee's Tropical Plants (http://www.logees.com/) that currently sells a larger starter plant for $19.95.

It arrived within a few days, and I first planted it in a pot. When the weather was warm enough I transplanted it to the ground and it grew to about two feet in heighth. Over last winter I not only mulched it, I surrounded it with burlap to ensure it would come back. And it did. Hopefully when the weather gets warm enough with hot and humid nights (maybe this weekend) my banana plant will indeed grow up to 2 feet per week. Maybe it will even spawn a few "pups," referring to new sprouts, and I'll get a whole grove of banana plants ... I can always dream.