You don't need a yard to grow fruit trees: you can grow them in containers on a patio or balcony. Some types of fruit can also be grown indoors. Larry Mason, host of Winter Gardening, shares some tips for growing banana trees, which are sold by mail in the form of ready-to-plant corms. True bananas, plants in the genus Musa, require full sun or partial shade. Water regularly to promote rapid growth. They should be protected from wind so the leaves don't shred. Bananas will bloom two to five years after planting. Plants will die down to the roots after flowering. It's possible to grow new plants from the shoots at the crown, but it's easier to discard them and buy new nursery stock. Bananas die back in cold winters but grow again in spring. They make excellent container plants to grow outdoors in summer and indoors in winter. You can move your plants in spring just before they begin active new growth. To grow bananas inside, choose dwarf varieties such as 'Jamaica Red'. To pot up your banana, use a loose, light soil mixture containing perlite, sand and peat moss. Add the soil mix to the pot, and place the corm so there's about 3" from the outer edge of the corm to the edge of the container. Add soil so the neck of the corm is just covered and the top of the corm is exposed. Once roots begin to form, add more soil to cover the corm completely. In four to six weeks, green growth should begin to emerge from the top of the corm. Bananas require warm temperatures, so in the winter you'll need to keep your home at 70 to 75 degrees if you plan to bring them indoors. Some good varieties to grow indoors are 'Dwarf Chinese', 'Dwarf Cavendish', 'Dwarf Jamaica Red', 'Rajapuri' and 'Super Dwarf'. Tip: | 
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