Yes it's getting hot and it's Crepe Myrtle time again and its nice to see councils across Sydney have planting this tree along streets throughout many suburbs. This is a well behaved tree with very few problems and a raft of selling points. So if you are in the position of selecting a small shade tree for your garden, don't go past this tree and its vast range of colours.
Crepe Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica Indian Summer Range) is a small drought tolerant tree with beautiful crepe paper textured flowers in summer. Improved varieties have bigger flower heads and longer flowering period with a resistance to powdery mildew (common to older varieties). Flowers will last from 60 - 90 days depending on the cultivar. When the flower starts to age cut it immediately below the head so that the shoots down the stem at each leaf can open and the next flower heads can develop. This can be repeated over three to four months. A light prune in autumn or winter (just to remove the finished flowers only) will result in many more flowers next summer.
Foliage: Most varieties colour well in autumn with leaf colours ranging from bright red, deep maroon, vibrant yellow, pink and burnt orange, all on the one tree.
Bark: The bark is also beautiful, exfoliating early summer to revealing bold, gnarled, sinuate and twisted trunk in mottled colours. The small fibrous root system makes it the perfect tree for the home garden.
Indian Summer Range is more disease resistant. Look out for the following cultivars: 'Acoma' – Pure white flowers. 3m high at maturity 'Apalachee' – Pinkish-lavender flowers. To 4m. 'Biloxi' – Pale Pink flowers – to 6m. 'Hopi' – Bright pink flowers – to 3.5m. 'Lipan' – Lavender flowers – to 4m. 'Miami' – Dark pink flowers – to 5.5m. 'Natchez' –superb white flowering specimen tree with upright multi-stemmed branches 8m. 'Sioux' – Medium pink flowers – to 4m. 'Tonto' – Dark red flowers – to 3m. 'Tuscarora' - dark coral red flowers - to 4m 'Victor' – Dark red flowers – 1-2m. 'Yuma' – lavender flowers, scented like cinnamon, rapid growth to height 4m and width 3m. Yuma will flower for a 90 day flowering period in warm weather. 'Zuni' – Dark lavender flowers – to 3m.
OUR PICK 'Tuscarora' Height 4m, Width 5m. 70 day flowering period! The best red flowering crepe myrtle on the market. Dark coral red flowers, great autumn foliage, good for large containers as they cope well with dry conditions, excellent street trees and they make a wonderful lawn speciman. Red flowers span 30cm across and flowers last from late summer through to autumn.
Available: Your Local Garden Centre
The Crepe Myrtle Man, 47 Post Road Glenorie (02) 9652 0608
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