About Crape Myrtle Trees...?

I am working with a South Florida community that is thinking of putting in some Crape Myrtle Trees. Perhaps, 20-40 around their community. I have heard that if the winter is not very mild, they lose their leaves and look bare. However, I also heard that and they would only stay bare for a few months. Can you please give me your opinion on the Crape Myrtle Tree. The community likes very colorful, flowery, and full trees. They are strongly leaning towards the Crape Myrtle but I don't want to see them end up with a "Charlie Brown Christmas Tree". Thanks!

About Crape Myrtle Trees...?
yes crape myrtle loose there leaves.. but they are beautiful trees.. what about using more than one kind of tree? some that stay green in the winter?
Reply:yep its a lovely tree with purple flowers its true in winter the need cutting back ,worse thing very evassive roots.
Reply:the Crape Myrtle Trees are very COLORFUL trees IN reds/pinks/whites/and some lite/Yellow, very COOLED will make them bare but not for long, they will do FINE south Florida
Reply:The town I live in has them down our main streets on both sides(Mississippi) they are in just about everyone yards, some are bushes and some are trained to be trees. We have 2 large trained ones at the end of our drive that are lilac, when their leaves change For fall they are just as pretty as the time when they flower, mine flowered twice this summer. When the leave fall they need to be to have the branches cut if you are going to train them. Our city takes good care of them some are very old like mine that have a light grey trunk that contrast well with the leaves and flowers and then the fall color. Our town is truly lucky to have such beauty lining our streets.
Reply:Strange the different answers you get.





Crape Myrtle- Lagerstroemia indica is a deciduous tree that blooms in Summer(some ealry, some late) and comes in pinks, reddish, lavender and white. It is small for a tree only reaching about 20 feet here in SoCal. 40 feet is common for other types of trees, so 20 is small :-) Losing leaves IS a sign of winter and not to be considered a bad thing. Remember, plants that are evergreen lose something(leaves, seeds, flowers) year round. Deciduous pretty much do it all at once. I would never consider a leafless Crape Myrtle to look like a "Charlie Brown tree". They are always replacing large Ficus nitidas on city steets with Crape Myrtles. I would not consider their roots invasive.





Good luck :-)
Reply:Great trees. I have two "huge" trees. One in the front and one in the back. They will probably stay green year round. Here in Texas, they do loose their leaves. There are different colors I have one white and one red. There is also pink. They get trimmed here every year so they do not get too big and out of control.
Reply:crape myrlte is largly considered a large flowering shrub that blooms in the fall.


For a better 'tree' try flowering dogwood, magnolias, or cherry trees
Reply:crepe myrtle thrives in southern California, so i can only assume that they will do fine in Florida. If any state has mild winters, its Florida!
Reply:CREPE Myrtle bushes are beautiful, but are deciduous...must loose leaves for about 2 months in Florida...they will loose leaves in late November and put them back on in February in Southern Flordia. Even bare, the wood is beautiful, very shapely and delightful to see. But they will not be leafed in December. They are hardy, drought resistant, and can grow to heights of about 25 feet over time. The branches are a very hard wood. Good luck
Reply:Additonal c myrtle info from --*Myrtle Beach*-- SC





They set buds in the spring. Prune after blooming or in fall.





New starts can be made from the prunings either by using rooting hormone or placing them in clear containers of water. (strip lower leaves off from at least half way up - no foliage in water)





Have fun!
Reply:im not really sure but if they looked that bad then i dont think so many people would have them.we have them all around our housei cant remember what they did last year. they are so popular though
Reply:Use them as the taller aspects of the landscape. They do loose their leaves but have very interesting bark. I think they are beautiful. You could put some flowering wigglia around the bottoms of them, and azaleas and camilia bushes also for the green when the flowers of all of these are gone.
Reply:Crape Myrtle trees are worthless organisms that should all be cut down and burned.

flowers and gifts