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Add sizzle to your landscape with new red Crape Myrtles
By Theresa Friday
Santa Rosa County Extension
Just look around and you
can see that crape myrtle is
among the favorite local
landscape plants. It is valued
as a landscape plant for its
prolific summer flowers, heat
and drought tolerance, and
year-round landscape interest.
Through intensive breeding,
crape myrtles now come in a
variety of sizes and flower
colors. Color ranges include
shades of purple, lavender,
white, pink and now a “true”
red, a relatively recent
development.
Gardeners have long sought
a crape myrtle with red
flowers, but true red flowers
have been hard to find. The
first truly red crape myrtle was
named Dynamite®.
Because of its popularity, it
inspired searches for more red
flowering crape myrtles.
Thanks to the work of Dr. Carl
Whitcomb and the U.S.
National Arboretum, new
introductions of red flowering
crape myrtle are now
available. In
addition to
these new
releases, a few
o l d e r
selections are
worth taking a
look at also.
If you have
a sunny spot
that needs
some color but
the space is not
big enough for
a full size
crape myrtle,
take a look at
the dwarf and semi-dwarf
forms. Dwarf cultivars are
those that generally grow less
than four feet tall after five
years.
Dwarfs were first developed
in the 1960s but for some
reason are not widely planted.
These smaller crape myrtles
often bloom earlier and can be
used in a variety of ways in the
landscape.
Petite Red Imp® is a dwarf
cultivar with red flowers and a
rounded growth form.
Tightwad Red® has a
rounded growth form with
dense foliage and a true red
flower color. ‘Victor’ is a dwarf
compact form reaching three
to five feet in height and dark
red flowers.
The semi-dwarf cultivars of
crape myrtle usually reach a
height of less than 12 feet after
ten years.
‘Cheyenne’ is a new release
from the U.S. National
Arboretum. Since it is a
hybrid, it should have good
disease resistance. ‘Christina’
produces vivid red
flowers with yellow
stamens and is a small
to medium sized
shrub with more of an
upright-rounded form.
Siren Red® is a new
selection that
produces dark red
flowers. ‘Tonto’ is one
of those older
cultivars that
shouldn’t be forgotten.
It produces fuchsia
red flowers and is
more disease resistant.
Of course we are all
familiar with the tree form of
crape myrtle. Tree-size
cultivars reach heights greater
than 20 feet after ten years.
‘Arapaho’ is a newer cultivar
from the U.S. National
Arboretum. According to
some, this could be the best
disease resistant red flowering
crape myrtle. Red Rocket®
produces large clusters of
cherry-red flowers on an
upright-rounded plant. And
last, but not least, take a look
at Dynamite®. Dynamite® is
just that, exploding with red
flowers that smother the
foliage. Be aware however, that
cloudy weather can fade some
flowers to the point they turn
white.
Thanks to breeders
continuing to improve and
introduce new crape myrtles,
we now have red flowering
cultivars in all sizes, suitable
for any sunny spot in the yard
or even in containers on the
patio. True to the freeflowering
nature of crape
myrtle, these new cultivars
should continue to produce
bright red flowers throughout
summer and into autumn.
Tip of the Week: Cannas
that exhibit tightly rolled
leaves this time of year may be
infested with the canna leaf
roller caterpillar. B.t. (Bacillus
thuringiensis) is a biological
control product that is
effective on most caterpillars.
It is sold under several trade
names including Dipel and
Thuricide. With all pesticide
products, be sure to read and
follow all label instructions.
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