{"id":8140,"date":"2016-05-21T12:00:32","date_gmt":"2016-05-21T16:00:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/?p=8140"},"modified":"2016-08-21T20:29:54","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T00:29:54","slug":"japanese-crape-myrtle-flaunts-stunning-bark","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/2016\/05\/21\/japanese-crape-myrtle-flaunts-stunning-bark\/","title":{"rendered":"Japanese Crape Myrtle Flaunts Stunning Bark"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"'Fantasy'<\/a>

‘Fantasy’ crape myrtle at JC Raulston Arboretum in Raleigh<\/p><\/div>\n

\"'Townhouse'<\/a>

‘Townhouse’ crape myrtle<\/p><\/div>\n

Most crape myrtle cultivars marketed\u00a0through garden centers are hybrids that combine the large colorful flowers of Common Crape myrtle (L<\/em>agerstroemia<\/em> indica<\/em>) with the mildew-resistant foliage and cold hardiness of\u00a0Japanese Crapemyrtle (L. faurei<\/em>). Japanese Crape myrtle are cold hardy (USDA hardiness zones 6-b to\u00a09) and are heat tolerant. They are rated hardy to winter minus 10 \u00baF.<\/p>\n

Japanese Crape myrtle\u00a0is a\u00a0multi-stemmed, medium 40 foot tree deciduous tree. At the JC Raulston Arboretum (JCRA) in Raleigh, NC, the cultivar \u2018Fantasy\u2019 is 50 feet tall after 30+years. It flaunts a stunning flaking cinnamon brown bark. In my opinion, it\u2019s the showiest of all crape myrtles. A close second\u00a0is a 40 foot\u00a0tall ‘Townhouse’ with a dark chocolate bark. Fantasy is rated less cold hardy than Townhouse.<\/p>\n

Japanese Crape myrtle produces abundant pure white flower clusters averaging\u00a04 inches in\u00a0diameter. Compared to most other crape myrtles, flower clusters are looser than those of L. indica\u00a0<\/em>that do not droop as much\u00a0following\u00a0heavy rains. Tree blooms\u00a0only\u00a0once, usually in early summer in Tennessee, Virginia,\u00a0and North Carolina.<\/p>\n

Main multi-stemmed trunk grows upright with tips of branches slightly\u00a0nodding,\u00a0and\u00a0rounded crown. It grows best in full sun\u00a0and in moist fertile soil. It tolerates dry soils once established after 1 year. Do not plant on public lands, particularly non-irrigated sites such as highway medians, urban streets, and parking lots. Feed in early spring with a slow release fertilizer. Annual mulching around trees is highly recommended.<\/p>\n

After flowering, Japanese crape myrtle grows through the summer and, in some years\u00a0has trouble hardening off before winter. To prevent early frost injury, do not fertilize after mid-summer.\u00a0Flowers are smaller compared to\u00a0hybrid cultivars.<\/p>\n

Compared with\u00a0hybrid cultivars, Japanese crape myrtle is susceptible to aphids, scale, and powdery mildew. Its leaves are highly mildew resistant.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Most crape myrtle cultivars marketed\u00a0through garden centers are hybrids that combine the large colorful flowers of Common Crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) with the mildew-resistant foliage and cold hardiness of\u00a0Japanese Crapemyrtle (L. faurei). Japanese Crape myrtle are cold hardy (USDA hardiness zones 6-b to\u00a09) and are heat tolerant. They are rated hardy to winter minus 10 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[444,1218,747,914,674,806,665,551,843,1060,601,729,777,706,646,113,850,655,455],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8140"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9001,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8140\/revisions\/9001"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8140"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8140"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/whatgrowsthere.com\/grow\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8140"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}