Growing Crape Myrtle Trees: Tips at a Glance
- Type Flowering tree
- Life Span 50 years
- USDA Zones 5-9
- Light Full sun
- Water Well-drained soil
- When to Plant Cool weather
- Design Tip Long-lasting flowers
- Colors Pink, white
- Peak Season Summer
Field Guide: Crape Myrtle Trees
With an extraordinarily long bloom time (from 60 to 120 days), Crape Myrtle is a show stopping specimen tree or shrub, especially since it has four season interest with attractive seed heads, fall color, and distinctive bark.
Hybridizers at the U.S. National Arboretum have been working to improve crape myrtles, making them more mildew and disease resistant as well as hardier. The most successful cultivars are the result of crosses of L. indica, the most common species in the U.S., with L. fauriei, a species with striking red-brown trunks introduced from Japan. The showy bark of crape myrtle is enhanced by an underplanting of an evergreen ground cover such as liriope, ajuga, euonymus, or juniper.
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