Keep it Green, by Michael Womack
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Saturday, June 30, 2001

Crape myrtles beat the heat with summer blossoms

Crape myrtles are an excellent addition to any landscape. These multi-trunked trees are noted for their summer flowering and peeling bark that provides unusual texture to the landscape. Large varieties can even be used as shade trees. Their deciduous nature also provides some fall color in our area. Once established, they are drought tolerant, making them a good choice for South Texas yards.
   Crape myrtles are photoperiodic, meaning they bloom when exposed to a certain number of daylight hours. Unlike poinsettias and mums, these trees bloom when days are long and nights are short. This long-day flowering habit provides colorful trees and large shrubs at a time when many plants have completed their blooming and are just struggling to survive in the heat.
   Crape myrtle come in sizes from 3 to 40 feet tall. Their flowers come in different colors from the red, pink, purple and white end of the spectrum. Older varieties may not be named and will be plainly tagged red, pink, purple or white. Named varieties are preferable since size and color can be determined.
   All sizes and colors
   The best large varieties for our area include Basham Party Pink, which provides lavendar-pink flowers on trees reaching 30 to 40 feet tall. Another is the elegant, large-leafed, white-flowering Natchez that maxes out closer to 20 to 25 feet. Tuscarora is a good reddish-pink variety and Katawba is purple, but these two typically grow to a maximum height of 20 feet.
   Zuni, a purple variety grows to be 10 feet tall. Pecos sports pink flowers on an 8-foot tree, while Acoma only reaches 7 feet and has white flowers
   Dwarf crape myrtles have been on the market for about 10 to 12 years but have renewed interested in the past few years as people look for medium-sized, drought-tolerant, flowering shrubs. Most dwarf crape myrtles grow to be 4 to 6 feet tall. Always assume the larger size in our climate when determining placement of dwarf plants to prevent problems with oversized plants. Dwarf varieties include Victor (red), Chica (dark red) and Dwarf Pink.
   To further confuse the issue, there are now weeping or pixie varieties which only grow to about 3 feet tall. These include Baton Rouge (red), World's Fair (dark pink), Sacramento (dark pink), Cordon Bleu (lavender) and Delta Blush (pale pink).
   Potential problems
   Although crape myrtles sound like the "wonder plant" for your landscape, you should note that there are some potential problems as well. Whitefly and powdery mildew are two of the main problems.
   Whitefly sucks sap from the underside of leaves and leaves a sugary substance called honeydew. Look under the leaves for tiny insects or shake your plant and see if a cloud of whiteflies start swarming around the plant.
   The honeydew produced by whitefly encourages growth of a black, sooty mold. The mold prevents sunlight from getting to the leaves.
   Luckily, the deciduous nature of crape myrtles will provide a natural cleaning mechanism every autumn. The next spring, new growth will be free of insects and the mold.
   If you're looking for new flowering shrubs and trees for your yard, consider crape myrtles. They can provide colorful additions to your landscape in a wide range of sizes. Just remember to pick the variety that meets your specifications.
  
  

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Michael Womack is a horticulturist with the Texas Agricultural Extension Service. Got a question? Michael Womack will answer landscape and gardening questions. Call 886-4648, category 3025 to record your question. Write Keep It Green, Corpus Christi Caller-Times, P.O. Box 9136, Corpus Christi, TX 78469 or email wm-womack@tamu.edu

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