Hackney man's surprise as bananas grow in his garden

Hackney's Ripon Ray, 42, said he had never seen the tree produce fruit before this summer’s heatwave.

But since then, his banana tree has started growing the tropical fruit.

Ripon said he is not sure what variety of banana it is, and the hobby gardener called the experience "weird".

He added that he thinks he will now have bananas growing every year going forwards.

The 42-year-old is yet to eat any of the fruit, so does not know for certain if they are plantains or sweet bananas.

This is the first year that fruit has grown on Ripon's trees (Image: SWNS)

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Ripon said: “We moved into Hackney over 10 years ago and I bought a banana plant at the time and put it in my garden.

“Every winter I worry it’s going to die - the plant rots right in front of me because the winter is so cold.

“In the last couple of years, it has survived the harsh conditions and grown bigger and bigger.

“The plant doesn’t require much attention."

Ripon, a debt expert, had just started to think that the tree was taking up too much space in his garden when this year's scorching temperatures hit.

He said: "I was going through my garden and thinking it was getting too big.

“Then I saw there were bananas growing, there were two bunches of bananas growing on the tree.

“When you think of bananas you think of Asia, Malysia, Singapore or the Caribbean, places with monsoons and tropical weather.

“Obviously thinking about it, global warming is playing a huge part - who would think London is a hub of bananas.

“I’ve never had bananas growing in my garden in my life – it's weird.”

The Royal Horticultural Society website says banana trees do not cope well with British weather and should be brought indoors over winter.

Its website adds: "Although banana plants rarely flower or fruit outdoors in the UK, they still make eye-catching foliage plants with their dramatically large, tropical leaves."