Bananas growing on one of the trees in the gardens at the Vice-Chancellor’s residence, Redcot.
Yes, we have some bananas!
Groundsmen were astonished to find several bunches of bananas growing on one of the trees in the gardens at the Vice Chancellor’s residence, Redcot.
Whilst it’s not unheard of for bananas to set fruit out of doors in the South West, it is still extremely unusual and is only the second time in 20 years that this has happened at the University.
This particular plant has been looked after by Andy Roke for the past 15 years, and he commented “This is a really special event for me and I’m absolutely delighted to see the tree flowering and setting fruit. 15 years of TLC has finally reaped its rewards and I’m glad that at least I’ve been responsible for that once in my career!”
Sadly, the banana tree will probably die now but luckily there is another one planted in close proximity. Andy added “hopefully I won’t have to wait another 15 years to see fruit again!”
Date: 28 August 2008
