Barbers unlikely banana growth a new claim to fame

A barber whose previous claim to fame was cutting the Welsh prime ministers hair has a new reason to be cheerful after it emerged he is one of the first gardeners in the UK to have achieved a banana harvest outdoors.

Bananas are typically best suited to warmer climates and being grown under glass in a greenhouse so the excellently named Michael Michael must have been shocked to find that the banana trees he keeps in his garden bore fruit this year for the very first time.

He explained to Wales Online that he grows other exotic plants in his garden in Fairwater and that it is a testament to the changing UK weather.

"Its proof climate change has come to Fairwater," he told the website.

"Ive got all kinds of exotic plants – figs and tons of grapes that I let the birds eat. Ive got some Himalayan banana plants as well.

"Ive got some Americana cacti that are huge. They arent meant to grow in our weather either."

Only recently, a Gloucestershire man grew an Asian species of banana in his greenhouse-like extension – a feat that attracted acclaim as the species he had grown was one that had eluded the Royal Horticultural Society for years.