Crepe Myrtle
Lagerstroemia ' Dynamite'
(la-ger-STREEM-ee-uh)
When this was planted I was under the impression that it was a dwarf plant. In the last couple of years it has grown to about 15 feet tall and that was after getting the height pruned a couple of times to keep the shape looking right, even though top pruning Crepe Myrtles is not recommended. Research has now revealed that this cultivar gets up to 20 feet tall, which is much bigger than originally thought but by a stroke of luck it has enough room to get that big.
It has an amazing shade of red in the flowers. A hard to ignore shade of red. ‘Dynamite’ is considered the hardiest of the Lagerstroemias and it hasn’t failed to bloom in lower Westchester County, New York in the last five seasons. ‘Dynamite’ is also a long blooming shrub/tree and while the advertising is promoting a 120 days of bloom I haven’t seen that yet. Another piece of hype is that the flowers bloom redder each year and I haven’t noticed that either. This one has kept about the same color each year.
2 comments:
aloha,
very nice details you have captured, i love these crepe myrtles, the red ones are quite drammatic
my flower for today is on my plantfanatic blog
I have always thought of my favorite tree as being more southern, but saw a perfectly fine example blooming in Chelsea NYC this summer.
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