I have a small patch of Ornamental Bananas (Musa ornate) growing in front of my porch. It took me more than a year to get them looking as lush as in the image above.
Visitors are attracted to the pinkish inflorescence bracts against a background of green leaves. And so are Olive-backed Sunbirds (Nectarinia jugularis). These birds visit the flowers a few times a day to sip on the nectar. Their high-pitched chirps and chatters announce their presence.
These banana plants demand plenty of fertilisers all the time. My plants are organically grown, not that I eat the fruits as they are small and mostly skin. My secret of keeping them lush and free flowering is using diluted personally generated liquid fertilisers.
The length of the sunbirds’ bill is a little too short to reach the nectar at the base of the flowers. So what they do is pierce the base of the flowers to get at the nectar – whether male or female flowers – see images above and video clips below.
It is a pleasure to watch these attractive sunbirds darting from one inflorescence to another while relaxing with a book in the porch.
YC Wee
Singapore
12th May 2017
