Texas Gardening Landscapes with Crape Myrtle

Crape Myrtle Adds Color and Variety to Your Landscape

Aug 15, 2009

The great thing about using crape myrtle in your Texas Landscape is the variety of color and sizes available. Plants are heat tolerant and long blooming.

Crape myrtles (also crepe) are small uprights trees that can become as tall as 20–30 feet. However smaller varieties can add spots of color and will only grow to three or four feet. The colors available for crape myrtles range from white to dark red and purple with many pale colors in between. Crape myrtles bloom from June through October and in cooler climates they will have bright leaves after all the blooms are gone.

Planting a Crape Myrtle

Because there is so much variation in the eventual size of a crape myrtle, be sure to check with your nursery about the ones to be purchased and how they will fit in your landscape. Crape Myrtles prefer full sun, but can tolerate a bit of shade. Six hours of sun per day should be sufficient to keep the plant healthy. Planting in the fall to late winter will give your plant time to become established before the summer heat sets in.

Dig your hole large enough to accommodate the root ball usually about 12” deep and 24” across. Build a 3- inch ring of soil around the plant to help retain water. Although extreme measures are not needed to prepare soil for planting, a layer of mulch about 2” thick around the base of the plant will also help retain moisture. Use shredded bark, compost, pine needles for mulch and place at least an inch away from the trunk.

Water your plant immediately after placing it in its hole to settle the soil. Prune away any dead branches.

Caring for Your Crape Myrtle

Water the plant weekly in its first year—depending on rainfall and temperatures. As the plant matures, it will not require frequent watering, but should be checked weekly and not allowed to dry out completely.

Apply a high-nitrogen fertilizer just like the type used on your lawn. Apply fertilizer at least during the growing season: once in early spring and the second about 6–8 weeks later. A third and final feeding can be made in late summer, but is not essential.

Prune the crape myrtle to shape it and remove dead branches. Most experts recommend against topping off the crape myrtle. If you wanted a smaller crape myrtle, purchase one that is shorter rather than pruning one that has grown too tall. Neil Sperry, one of Texas’s premier gardening experts and a lover of crape myrtles becomes almost livid when someone tops off a crape myrtle.

Crape Myrtle Problems

Crape myrtles are generally healthy and low maintenance trees. However, there are a few challenges to watch out for. Powdery mildew is a fungal disease that attacks crape myrtle. There are resistant varieties that provide the best option to control powdery mildew. If plants are affected, natural fungicides such as Neem oil extract and potassium bicarbonate have been shown to be effective. There are also non-organic fungicide treatments available. Insect pests that bother crape myrtles in Texas include aphids, Japanese beetles, and primrose flea beetles. Scales, mealy bugs and whiteflies can also infect crepe myrtles, but are not generally fatal to mature trees.

Crape myrtles offer great landscape options that please most Texans. They are heat tolerant. They flower all summer with many optional colors of flowers. They do not require a lot of water and they are not delicate or disease prone.

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The copyright of the article Texas Gardening Landscapes with Crape Myrtle in Trees is owned by Barbara Brown. Permission to republish Texas Gardening Landscapes with Crape Myrtle in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.