Crepe Myrtle Trivia

Crepe Myrtle is spelled with an “e.”
TRUE: In the McDonald Garden Center dictionary, we spell Crepe Myrtle with an “e” based on the tissue-paper like flowers that resemble the crepe paper texture.

All crepes grow into trees.
FALSE: Crepe Myrtle breeding has given us a wide range of plants. Some can be as small as a few feet tall such as the Pocomoke variety. There are also medium-sized varieties capable of providing summer shade like the Natchez Crepe Myrtle.

All Crepe Myrtles are disease resistant.
FALSE: Many of the older varieties do not have the improved breeding from Dr. Donald Egolf of the National Arboretum. Dr. Egolf first worked with Lagerstroemia indica for breeding and selection in hopes of eliminating the problem of powdery mildew. From that initial work, 6 varieties were chosen with improvements and these were given native American Indian names so that these plants would be recognized worldwide as having American Heritage. His work further continued with cross-breeding with Lagerstroemia fauriei which gave us many of today’s newer hybrids such as Natchez, Tuscarora and Tonto. It is important to select newer improved varieties to replace the older disease prone selections.

Crepe Myrtles love the heat.
TRUE: Crepe Myrtles love the hot summers of our area and are the perfect addition for carefree summer color.

Crepe Myrtles are not picky about the soil they are planted in.
TRUE: Crepe myrtles are adaptable to a wide range of soil conditions and can perform even in poor soils.

Crepe Myrtles can flower in the shade.
FALSE: For maximum flowering, Crepe Myrtles must have a full sun location, meaning at least 6 hours of sun daily. Less than that will mean less flowers and poor performance.

Crepe Myrtles need to be dead headed.
FALSE: It is not necessary for the newer varieties to remove old blooms before they go to seed to produce new flowers. Re-current flowering is one of the greatest benefits achieved with new varieties.

Crepe Myrtles bloom for 100 days.
TRUE: Crepe Myrtles are known as the Tree of 100 Days blooming from June into September. The Natchez variety is one of the longest blooming trees, lasting up to 110 days!

Crepe Myrtles are a multi-season interest plant.
TRUE: They produce flowers all summer, have great orange-red fall color, and many varieties will display cinnamon colored bark in winter. Crepe Myrtles have a very long window of interest!

{ Happy Gardening! Posted by McDonald Garden Center, July 15, 2010 }