Pine Level — Kenny Thompson set out to have a tropical-looking backyard but really got motivated once he found a challenge. He began researching plants to set the scene, and when he found one people told him he couldn't grow, he had a winner.

Even his buddy and neighbor Cole Headley naysayed the idea: banana plants in Pine Level.

"I went for help everywhere around here, and no one said I could do it," Thompson said. "They just said it couldn't be done."

"Everywhere" included calls to N.C. State University, the Johnston County Cooperative Extension Service and other farmers. But Thompson scoured the Internet and found growers in places like Florida and Virginia who were successfully bringing up bananas.

Thompson recruited Headley, who lives two houses down, to give it a try, at least.

They started buying seeds on the Internet and driving around to pick up baby plants from other growers. Thompson said on one trip, the two waded into a Florida swamp to lop off part of a promising plant. But the effort paid off; they're still growing bananas from that plant's lineage.

"He pretty much does all the research, and I do all the labor," Headley said.

Thompson didn't replant at his home last spring because he was getting ready to put his house on the market, so Headley is now the one with the mini-tropical oasis in his backyard. In addition to several leafy banana plants — they look like trees but are technically plants, Thompson said — Headley's got a pond, plants like palm trees and pineapple growing in pots, a grass-topped umbrella table and tiki torches for summer nights. During the warm months, his backyard is a prime hangout spot for family and friends, Headley said.

Thompson said he's still tickled by the novelty.

"You go out there and set up under them, and it's just not supposed to be there," Thompson said. Headley and Thompson have been working together to grow banana plants for four years, and this was the second summer they actually saw fruit.

"Getting them to fruit is the tricky part," Headley said.

Thompson said growing banana plants isn't too far off from raising animals. "The mama plant grows up and produces pups -- baby trees are called pups — and that's how you grow new plants," he said.

One plant can spawn a few pups, which are leafy stumps around the base, and those become the next crop.

Just before the plants sprout bananas, they first grow long, plum-colored blossoms that fall away when the banana bunches are ready to start poking out underneath.

From the time a plant is uprooted from its mother plant, it has a life expectancy of about two years. After about a year or a year and a half, the banana plant will produce its first flowers. A banana plant is finished after it bears fruit.

Headley and Thompson said they used a lot of trial and error to find the right varieties of plant, soil, watering methods and handling to nurture their crops in the local climate.

"When we had all this drought, I didn't water once," Headley said, noting that the plants hold water like crazy. "I wonder if we're breeding heartier bananas."

The two chuckle when they recall how delicately they used to pull away excess leaves and gently cut away the pups. They've since learned that a healthy, strong banana plant can withstand some real chopping, and they're saving themselves a lot of time.

Headley said timing is everything. Plants should be in the ground from about mid-April to November, and Headley keeps them in pots in a crawlspace at his house during the other months. One of the worst mistakes a grower can make is to put a plant out while it's too cold, but the earlier they go in the ground, the better, Headley said.

"If you think you can give it an extra week or two, you better try it," Headley said.

In all, the two of them say they've grown about 15 varieties of banana, all edible.

"They're better than a banana from the store," Thompson said.

"The texture, it's more like a soufflé-type thing," Headley added.

They grow one kind referred to as an ice cream banana, because of its sweet taste and creamy texture.

Mostly, they have more fun growing the bananas than eating them.

Thompson said his whole life he's loved to take on challenges, and he's having a blast surprising people who told him growing bananas in Pine Level was impossible.

"They're starting to believe," Thompson said.