That’s right! Bananas do not grow on trees. The banana plant is actually an herb and is considered by some to be the world’s largest herb. Flowering plants are split up into two basic groups: monocots and dicots. Dicots include plants such as oak trees, roses, apple trees and orange trees. Monocots include plants like corn, wheat, orchids, lilies and of course bananas. (These lists are by no means comprehensive lists of all the monocots and dicots in the world. Both groups are extremely large and diverse.) All of the monocots listed do not produce true wood, whereas all of the dicots listed do. The botanical definition of a tree states that the plant must have wood to even be considered a tree. Wood is produced during secondary growth (aka secondary thickening). Bananas do not have any secondary growth, which means they don’t have any wood. Since bananas do not produce wood, they are not trees. All this talk about wood raises a question, however. Palm trees are also monocots. They may look woody, but produce their stems’ thickness via a process called primary thickening. So the question now is: Are palm trees really trees? And if they aren’t, does the palm tree trump the banana as the largest herb in the world?

I just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Robby Flannery and I am one of the on-staff plant nerds here at PlantSense, maker of EasyBloom. I earned my Ph.D. in Plant Biology with an emphasis in Environmental Horticulture from the University of California, Davis under the tutelage of Dr. Heiner Lieth. I have been interested in the horticultural world since I was a child tooling around in my grandfather's backyard. If you have any questions about plants, this forum is the place to post them. I am more than happy to answer them to the best of my ability. Happy Gardening! --Robby

A couple of EasyBloomers have asked about the Sunrise, or Easter, Cactus. This plant is scientifically known as Hatiora gaertneri. It requires some special treatment to get it to flower. Although the dead flowers can be removed, I would leave the buds. Easter Cacti produce buds in fall, but they need some time and cool temperatures (around 50°F) before they will open. The buds are borne on the new stems of the cactus and can take some time to fully bloom. The buds may stay dormant because they did not receive enough time at cooler temperatures to fully set bloom. If those buds don’t open by mid- to late summer I would suggest removing them and wait for next season. Also, these cacti live on the branches of trees, which means that they are accustomed to partial shade since the leaves of the tree are shading the cacti. They also do best with relatively high humidity. This plant will be found in our database very shortly. Thanks for all the interest. --Robby

An EasyBloomer asked a question about adding tree roses to the database. I felt that this was an excellent question that deserved a more public forum for others to also see the answer. The answer is yes we will be adding more roses to the database (the database grows everyday), but a tree rose is something different from your typical rose. A tree rose is actually two or more roses grafted to each other. The "trunk" of the tree rose is actually a different species of rose than the showy canopy of the rose tree. The "trunk" comes from a species of rose that grows long canes, so it can form a little tree. The rose that interests the consumer would be grafted on top of the long cane so that it looks like a little tree. The rose that makes up the canopy can more or less be any type of rose the grower wants. The EasyBloom Plant Sensor can monitor the canopy of the rose very well. Luckily the species of rose that makes up the "trunk" has very similar watering needs as other roses. When the rose canopy is monitored, EasyBloom will also give correct soil readings. I hope this is helpful. -- Robby

An EasyBloomer asked the following question..."Can you root cactus limbs?" A branch broke off from the main trunk of a cactus and it had several buds that were yet to open. Luckily, cacti are among the easiest plants to root. Many plants require some type of rooting compound/hormone to take root, but cacti do not need these compounds. They will take root on their own. There are some things that should be considered, however, when trying to get a cactus to root. If a branch breaks off, the cactus will be wounded. The cactus needs time for the wound to callous over. Place the broken cactus piece in a warm dry area. Cacti do not need water for long periods of time, so there should be no worry allowing several days (even several weeks) to go by while the wound callouses over. After the callous is fully developed, plant the piece of cactus in potting soil. The potting soil should drain very well. You could mix in some perlite or sand with the potting soil to increase the drainage. Also, cactus mix potting soil is available for purchase. The calloused portion of the cactus should be underneath the soil so that light does not penetrate to it. Water the cactus like you normally would (most people over-water cacti...I usually recommend that if you think you should water a cactus, you probably don't have to yet...give it some more time). The cactus should start producing roots fairly quickly. I hope this was helpful! Happy Gardening!!! --Robby

Hey Monique - I believe we've communicated via email recently, but I also wanted reply to your forum post. Currently, we have a Single Weeping Cherry Tree, which is also commonly known as the Higan Cherry. The cultivar is 'Pendula' which is your typical Weeping Cherry. Very shortly, easybloom.com will also host the ‘Yae-Shidare-Higan’ Cherry. This is the double-flowered variety of Weeping Cherry. It flowers a little bit later than other cherries, but is quite stunning with its great pink floral display...I hope this is helpful. Thank you for your interest and Happy Gardening! Robby / Senior Horticulturalist

Hey Robin, I would be happy to add the dwarf red banana plant for you. You must forgive me though as it may take some time. I have to find some research on the cultivation needs of the dwarf red banana so we can calibrate our database for use with the EasyBloom Plant Sensor. If you have any more questions, please feel free to ask. Thanks...Robby

Hey Jennifer. My name is Robby and I'm the on-staff senior horticulturalist/plant nerd. The Lady Palm would be a great addition to our database. The Parlor Palm (in our database) would be the closest match for your Lady Palm. Although their cultural needs are not exactly the same, they are rather close. Thanks for the suggestion of a new plant for our database. Enjoy the EasyBloom and feel free to contact us if you have any other questions. Robby :)

Hey Jeff and Mary. My name is Robby and I'm one of the on-staff plant nerds. First off I really appreciate the suggestion about native plants, especially in California. California is an interesting botanical location. It is one of the most diverse floristic provinces in the world, and yet it has so many invasive species that have more or less pushed out native species from their ecological niches. I think that educating the public about these natives is an important venture as some of these natives may not be around for long. We are addressing the native issue, and I'm just as excited as I'm sure other native enthusiasts are to have such a feature on our website. To be able to search for California, Texas or Minnesota natives would be an excellent feature. Jeff, to answer your question about the number of CA natives in the database, I am not positive on the number of plants since this number has been changing lately with the addition of new plants. As a CA native, I have been easily able to add many CA natives to our database, since my horticultural education involves a lot of CA floristics. Anywho, thank you both for your enthusiasm about the EasyBloom sensor. If you do have any ideas for specific plants that you want to see in our database, feel free to inform us. To contact us about your desired plant, search for the plant in our database. If the plant is not in our database, the next web page will include a link that will open up your email client. You can then email us with your plant suggestions. Thanks again, Robby.

Hey Larame, My name is Robby and I'm one of the on-staff plant nerds. This is a topic close to my heart, since I personally have a Bearss Lime sitting in a pot on my patio. I might just have to take a photo of it for our plant database. I have used the lemon tree in the past to monitor my lime. You are absolutely right when you say that the Key Lime is more tropical than the other limes. The lemon tree has very similar light and soil moisture needs as the lime tree. There is a difference, however, with the temperature and relative humidity needs. Luckily, these differences are minimal and should not ultimately affect your monitoring. I get the feeling that the Mexican Lime will be in our database sooner than later though. :) Thanks again, Robby.