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Okay, so you vacationed
down south or in areas with growing zones of 6 or higher, and you just loved
those crepe myrtles flowering in the summer. Boy, you wish you could grow
one here. Well guess what? You can!
Over the past several
years, we are finding varieties of crepe myrtles that are doing fairly well
in southern zone 5. Most of them are dwarf or smaller growing selections,
but still, they are crepe myrtles! Crepe myrtles offer a lot to the
landscape – multi-stemmed plant – gray brown bark that begins to exfoliate
over time – wonderful summer colors – and believe it or not, great fall
colors of oranges reds and yellows! And don’t forget …crepe myrtles will do
quite well as a container plant!
Here are 3 of the many
crepe myrtles that you may want to try:
-This is Hopi. It’s a
semi dwarf crepe myrtle, usually reaching 5-10 feet. Shows good hardiness,
good leaf disease resistance, and of course, these wonderful crepe paper
like pink flowers.
-Dynamite – again good
disease resistance, good hardiness, and simply loaded with these cherry red
summer flowers.
-And this is Pink
Velour. 6-10 feet, hardy and disease resistance, but what’s so unique about
Pink Velour, is you have 2 great shows of colors. 1.) Look at this dark
maroon green foliage which is really unique, and serves as the perfect
background for these absolutely hot pink summer flowers.
Remember, they love the
sun, and flower on new growth. So enjoy them thru the summer, let them be
for the winter, then next mid to late spring (just before they leaf out),
deadhead, cut off the old seed pods, prune as needed, and feed to encourage
new growth. And if it’s a tough winter and they happen to die back, clean
up and remove the deadwood, they will re-grow, and still flower that same
summer on the new growth. Crepe myrtles…they’re not just for the south
anymore! |
