Banana trees are one of more than 80 species of flowering plants in the Musa genus. Bananas are huge herbaceous plants with fleshy, upright stalks from which large, oblong, bright green leaves grow.

Q: Our fig tree is about 9 feet tall and the leaves are dying. Is now the time to do needed pruning and how much? A: Let this tree lose its leaves and go dormant for the fall and winter months.

So, there is no need to cut your banana trees down to the ground. All you need to do is to trim off the damaged, unattractive foliage. Healthy new leaves will grow out of the top of the trunk.

Fresh Banana Leaves Jessica Hernandez North Atlantic Books, $17.95. During the civil war in El Salvador that began in the 1970s, an injured Victor Hernandez hid from falling bombs beneath the ...

The tree languished there until about three years ago. It was dying, all brown, scaly, and all the leaves were peeling off. I decided that it was either going to die or we had to do something.