CyberSalad: Garden Pursuits: Shrubs: Crape Myrtle

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Lagerstroemia indica

Crape myrtles are the most colorful element of Southern gardens from mid- to late summer when each branch and twig on the plants is tipped with a 6- to 12-inch cluster of white, pink, red, lavender, or purple-red flowers. Individual flowers are about 1 1/2 inches across, and so crinkly they look as if they were made of crepe paper. Crape myrtle leaves are oval and 1 to 2 inches long; they are bronze colored when they first unfold in the spring and become yellow, orange, or red before falling late in autumn. The smooth gray bark of old branches and stems gradually flakes off to reveal pinkish bark underneath.
Crape myrtles grow in zones 7-10 and do best in full sun and in moist soil that has been well supplemented with peat moss, leaf mold, or decayed sawdust. Do not buy bare-root plants, which are difficult to establish in the garden; instead, buy either container-grown plants or balled-and-burlaped ones, sold with their roots in their original soil ball wrapped in burlap. For hedges, plant crape murtles about 4 or 5 feet apart. Prune in early spring before the new growth starts so that the current season's stems can produce flowers. Methods of pruning vary from the removal of deadwood only to the cutting back of plants nearly to the ground each spring. The latter method produces extremely large flowers on relatively few main stems that rarely grow more than 4 feet tall in a season. This technique has been used primarily to control the size of large-growing varieties and is unnecessary with smaller new varieties; little pruning is needed to keep these at at low height. Plants can be started from softwood cuttings of young growth in late spring or early summer, from semi-hardwood cuttings of more mature growth in mid- or late summer, or from hardwood cuttings of dormant leafless growth in late fall or early winter..

'Supersonic Mix', a dwarf version of the beautiful southern crape myrtle, this little shrub begins blooming in June with a profusion of lacy color. (Sow in February for flowers in July). This particular variety blooms in shades of white, pink, red and maroon. Makes a perfect pot plant in cooler climates or a lovely outdoor shrub Zones 6-10. Full sun; plant height: 24in.

'Chickasaw', is the first true miniature Lagerstroemia indica x L. fauriei hybrid, reaching 20 inches tall and 26 inches wide after seven years in container culture. Its petite size makes it a delightful plant for display in containers. 'Chickasaw' is also a good choice for use as a summer-flowering perennial (use it as an annual in far northern regions) or as a specimen in the rock garden. Its habit is densely branched, forming a dwarf, compact mound. Foliage is fine-textured, glossy and dark green. Pinkish-lavender flowers appear in mid- to late summer, about two weeks after flowers appear on standard hybrid forms of crape myrtle. Flowers persist until frost.

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Site launched January 1, 2000.
Site updated September 1, 2007.