Page 20 - North Haven Magazine Issue 39 Summer 2025

ur Experience wit
h
Our Experience with
O

by Sally Brockett
C rape My rtle Trees
C Crape Myrtle Treesrape Myrtle Trees
Crape Myrtle Trees

When we think of crape myrtle trees, for long. Crape myrtles are fast-grow-
we envision beautiful, small, flower- ing, gaining a foot or two per year, de-
ing trees or shrubs lining the drive- pending on the variety and type. An-
ways or decorating the patios of other great asset with crape myrtles is
homes in the southern states. This you can choose the size you ultimately
type of tree maintains its flowers for want, depending on the space avail-
60 to 120 days, much longer than any able.
other tree. Because of this character-
istic, crape myrtles will be in blossom First spring leaves appear on the little The Crape Myrtle Company sells the
when no other trees in the area have sticks we rooted in the fall.. trees online and offers standard-size
blooms. Imagine such a gorgeous tree trees (mature at 20-30 feet), medium
in your yard! Well, now it is possible! trees (mature at 14-18 feet), dwarf
from the base of the branch. We pot- trees (mature at 6–10 feet), and min-
The introduction of certain variet- ted each branch in a larger pot with iature trees (1-5 feet). So, there is a
ies of crape myrtles that tolerate our potting soil and let them continue to size for every purpose! Another choice
northern winters lets us enjoy these grow. They soon leafed out and began is color. The blossoms come in shades
trees locally. You can purchase them, to look like a tiny tree! By late summer, of red, pink, purple, and white, with
or you can easily propagate them as a they had grown nicely, and we planted variations from light to dark.
fun project. So, let’s learn more about them in their permanent location on
crape myrtles to decide if it is a tree our property. We also received the CARE
worth planting. three seedlings we had ordered and Crape myrtles love sun and heat. A
planted those. Now, we had nine little minimum of six hours of sun will en-
PROPAGATION crape myrtles growing! The little trees sure nice blossoms, but the more sun,
About 3 years ago, a friend gave us all survived the winter and blossomed the more flowers! These trees will
two small branches from his crape beautifully the first summer. grow in any type of soil. In our region,
myrtle. We cut them into ten 5” piec- mulch is beneficial to retain moisture
es and kept them potted in damp sand CHOICES IN STYLE, and heat during the cold months. The
through the winter. We stored the SIZE, AND COLOR
pots in an old ice chest filled with pot- Many trees grow in a particular way or
ting soil for insulation and kept them with a certain style. They may have a
in our garage until spring. single trunk or multi-trunks, with the
flowers held high in the canopy. With
Because we were not confident of crape myrtles, you have a choice. You
success, we also ordered three seed- can grow it as a tree with a single
lings from The Crape Myrtle Compa- trunk or with multi-trunks, or you can
ny, which offers twenty-five varieties grow it as a shrub! They are very tol-
of cold-hardy crape myrtles. All these erant of pruning, and you can shape
varieties have Native American names them the way you wish. The blossoms
and are from the US National Arbore- grow on new wood, so pruning helps
tum. We selected Tonto because of its to increase the number of flowers.
watermelon red color.
We decided to have some of our little
In late April or May, we washed away trees grow as multi-stemmed trees, We are growing this one as a shrub.
the sand from our little branches and we pruned others to have a sin- Two years ago, it was a 5” stick.
and discovered small roots growing gle trunk. The trees will not be little

20 North Haven Magazine - Summer 2025