Banana! Suffolk back garden plants will be surprised when they produce fruit

“I’ve never heard of it in England myself so it’s been quite a surprise, but now I’m looking forward to seeing how big they are going to be,” he added.

“There’s at least 20 of them, but I don’t think they’re edible, but I like to think they will be, so I’ll have to leave them when they get a little bigger.

“My friend is from Jamaica and he grew up with bananas and he was amazed by this and thought he heard they were produced in Cornwall.”

Hind bought the banana plant from Henstead Exotic Garden, run by Andrew Brogan, who said Hind’s banana “looked great” but was inedible.

“The worst news is that once it flowers and fruits, that stem dies, but a new one grows from the root, so it’s fun,” he said.

Bananas are grown in countries such as India, China, Indonesia, Brazil, Ecuador, and the Philippines in traditionally humid and tropical conditions.

“It’s actually possible to grow banana plants under glass in the UK,” said Simon Middleton, from Tropic Biosciences in Norwich, who created a new type of banana using gene editing techniques.

He added: “Some varieties can be grown outdoors in warm, sunny and sheltered areas.

“We grow banana plants here as part of our research. However, getting a banana plant to flower and produce edible fruit is a huge challenge in the UK climate.

“If (Stephen) successfully grows a plant that produces edible fruit, he’s done very well.”

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