When you're looking for a glowing carpet of deliciousness to shade the roots of your Thai Black Banana and to help zone push them in colder climates, the beautiful--and edible-- Golden Oregano makes an excellent companion. It creates a spreading, low-growing ground cover to make a wonderful contrast to the dark trunks of mature Thai Black Banana plants.

Like the Golden Oregano, Hosta Sum and Substance glows. Unlike Golden Oregano, Hosta Sum and Substance is a big, big plant. This is a wonderful companion plant for people who like landscapes that are big on color, big on texture, and big on being just a little bit wild. The Hosta will also help to shade the roots of the Thai Black Banana, which helps retain as much water as possible, speeding along the growth of this fast-growing tropical plant. 

Want to embrace the darkness of the Thai Black Banana? Go even darker with your companion plants. Try the absolutely stunning Black Mondo Grass which creates a dense, dark carpet perfect for a darker themed, goth garden. Mondo grass will help to protect the soil around the roots of the banana plant from the hot summer sun, so that they can have as much water as is available. 

The Black Mondo Grass also gives a "black hole" feeling to the dark trunks of the banana plant, which can be uniquely appreciated by viewing your garden pairings by moonlight.

Growing edible plants with more edible plants? That's the permaculture way. Beijing grass only grows to be about a foot high and stays evergreen in warmer climates. It will give your banana plants a bright, soft carpet of grass to tie in the vibrant green of the banana leaves. 

Make this companion planting even more eclectic by mixing in your Beijing Grass with the Black Mondo Grass for a spotted/checkerboard effect underneath the canopy of your banana plant. 

A wonderously huge, tropical-looking plant with dark stems. The Dark Star Elephant Ear is equally as water-loving as the Thai Black Banana, making them excellent choices for a prime pond-side planting. In the featured photos, this Dark Star Elephant Ear is growing at the edge of a duck pond, its roots tapping into the nutrient rich water, helping it to achieve that 10 foot height that it is capable of growing to. 

Depending on what angle you are looking from this landscape at, the elephant ear goes from midground to back ground plant with the black-stemmed banana plant going from background to foreground. This gives this pond-planting a variable look that provides great interest to the eye and lots of sky cover to my food forest Runner Ducks.

When you're looking for big, bold plants to pair with the statement-making Banana Thai Black, Ghost Bamboo certaintly offers a stunning contrast with its pale, bluish green coloring. 

Here, the Thai Black Banana and the Ghost Bamboo face each other to create a walled effect in the edible landscape. They both help to support the refilling of the duck pond during heavy rains and offer shade and sky coverage for the ducks from flying predators and blistering summer sunlight. 

Though the names seem to be often used interchangeably, it is agreed upon by all that this very upright elephant ear's leaves form cups that actually hold water until its burden gets to heavy and all the water spills out. A delightful sight!

The Tea Cup/Coffee Cup Elephant Ear also has lovely, dark stems that offer an intriguing complement to the black trunks of the Thai Black Banana. As the banana plant will get much taller than the elephant ear, it can be used as the midground or background plant for the Tea Cup Elephant Ear, providing some shade from the blistering sun.