TREE TALK | On the streets and in the gardens of Madison Park: Crape myrtle

Stroll the sidewalks of the Madison Park business district this month and, no doubt, you’ll gasp at the overhead show. Clouds of blossom canopy the space above the curbs in a color that is halfway between rich cherry red and fuchsia.

Once you’ve gotten a good look at the flowers, take in the trunk down to the ground. The bark is smooth, almost leather-like, about the color of brown sugar. Top to bottom, it’s a beautiful and uncommon sight here and in most Seattle gardens.

You are looking at Crape myrtle (genus Lagerstroemia). Little known to the Pacific Northwest in the past, this plant is a standard in gardens of the American South and California. But with modern hybrids, increasing hardiness, coupled with the emergence of warmer winters and hotter, brighter summers, Crape myrtle is considered reliably sturdy here.

The plants you’ll see on our streets and in our gardens are hybrids, the offspring of a Chinese native, Lagerstroemia indica, and its Japanese cousin, L. fauriei. They’ve been bred for blossom color that can range from white to pale and strong pink and onto purplish reds that visually vibrate.

Crape myrtles are accommodating trees and can be grown with a single trunk or multi-stemmed. Deciduous plants, their autumn colors run from yellow to russet to orange-red and dark red. And when winter sets in and they defoliate, you’re left with a sculptural winter form that stretches out handsomely against our silvery-gray winter skies.

This is a tree that gives any garden a four-season show, usually topping out at 15 feet in height, rarely exceeding 25. They are the perfect size for city gardens. With heavy, albeit judicious, pruning, you can even keep them down to shrub size.

Crape myrtle likes a sunny spot in the garden ,with rich but quick-draining soil. Do not overwater; it hates having its roots in soggy soil and will bloom more robustly when subjected to all but the most serious summer drought. When you do water, if summers get insufferably dry, water deeply but infrequently.

To keep the flowers coming, cut the ends of last year’s blooming branches back 1 to 1 1/2 feet in early spring. The seedpods are great in dried arrangements.

Nurseries offer a wide selection of these plants, best put in the ground in October or November, giving them our long mild winter and spring to set down a good crop of roots. Look for names like ‘Acoma’ (white blooms, dark-red autumn color), ‘Comanche’ (deep coral pink flowers with orange-red or purple-red fall foliage), ‘Muskogee’ (lavender blossoms, red fall color), ‘Tuscarora’ (pinkish-red flowers, orange-red autumn leaves)…and many, many more.

There’s an added bonus: Crape myrtles bloom early on. Unlike many flowering trees, magnolia being one, you do not need to wait years for the flowering cycle to begin. Most bloom the first year after planting, so go for it.

STEVE LORTON, a Madison Park resident, is former Northwest bureau chief for Sunset Magazine. To comment on this column, write to MPTimes@nwlink.com.