Wales’s reputation as home of dour, sensible veg: leeks, carrots, cauliflowers, has taken a battering with the production of the country’s first indigenous bananas.

The Aberglasney ‘Ninfarium’ was built into the ruins of an old mansion with a glass roof put on top of its nine plant-housing chambers. Among other exotics, it is home to: cycads, ferns, magnolias and lavenders.

In October 2006, the Ninfarium won the National Horticulture Week Award for Best Garden Design.

When nearby Welsh ice cream makers Heavenly were missing an orange variety, gardeners at Aberglasney stepped in to help it reduce food miles by growing them in Wales.

The team planted a banana tree was planted in summer 2005.

Unlike shop-bought bananas, the ones grown at the Ninfarium are much smaller in size: only about five inches long, but their flavour is far more intense.

“We had about 25 bananas in total and they ripened in April,” director Graham Rankin explains. “We didn’t really know what to do with them until I had a brainwave, and got into contact with Heavenly, who melted them down to produce around 10 kilos of really good ice cream.

It is possible to grow oranges outside of the Ninfarium on the estate in West Wales because the high stone walls of the outside garden shelter the plants from the wind and also help retain heat overnight.

Topics