A Ewell woman is going bananas after she discovered four flowering stalks in her garden in decidedly non-tropical Surrey.

Nadia Ramsamy, 61, a retired nurse, has been growing bananas in her garden at her home in Chessington Road, Ewell for five years after being given a plant by a colleague.

But she was amazed at her yield this year as it was double last year’s harvest.

“Maybe it’s climate change”, she joked.

Surrey Comet:

The fruit is usually grown in tropical reasons where the average temperature is a balmy 27 degrees. Unlike most fruit, bananas do not have a growing season, and so can be grown throughout the year.

The banana flower appears in the sixth or seventh month of the tree's fruiting cycle before sprouting bananas ready for harvesting.

“I was working with the man I got the first stalk from,” she explained.

“He told me he had it in his garden. I thought he was joking.

“But I went to see it anyway, and there it was. I thought, wow! So I asked for a plant.

“Now I can have them every year.”

Surrey Comet:

Nadia, who is originally from Mauritius, and her family enjoy her home-grown bananas in curries and soups every year, but she was still amazed by this year’s crop.

“Here you don’t have time for them to be ripe,” she said.

“In my culture you put green bananas in a curry.

“You can also fry them in ginger garlic. They’re nice.”