By Robin Y. Rivet, for Let’s Talk Plants! August 2024.
Crape Myrtles Are Not French Pancakes
Amazing as it may seem, the Lagerstroemia genus of crape myrtles is the most commonly planted urban tree in California!
Even in San Diego County, crape myrtles are the 7th most commonly planted trees.
Why? Because they thrive even in the tiniest parkways ≤ 2’ wide. Lately they have become the “go to” tree in many older neighborhoods that lack sufficient space to accommodate more sizable species.
Putting that in perspective is the fact that palms are the most common urban “trees” in San Diego, but most municipalities have wisely stopped planting those due to their high maintenance, lack of substantial shade and minimal ecosystem value, whereas crape myrtles are typically pest-free, low maintenance and have high acceptance as public street trees.
Coupled with reliable drought tolerance, crape myrtles also sport showy, long-blooming flowers in pinks, reds, purples, and whites during the hottest summer months, and many cultivars glow scarlet during autumn with attractive rust-toned, exfoliating bark throughout the winter season. Although we need more species diversity, crape myrtles can be awesome San Diego specimens in the right place.
Autumn crape myrtle’s colorful foliage - Lagerstroemia x fauriei ‘Sioux’ cultivar. Photo by David J. Stang, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
By the way, that crape part, is spelled “C R A P E”, not “C R E P E”, so it’s unrelated to the French pancake. When they were brought into the southern United States from China ~200 years ago, their flowers apparently resembled “crepe” paper, hence the moniker. As for the “myrtle” name, they actually are related to the loosestrife family, not Myrtaceae. Someone long ago thought their leaf shape apparently looked like a myrtle, so common names can be tricky. To be fair, many spelling versions are considered acceptable, although “crape myrtle” is preferred in California.
Oddly enough, even though it’s one of San Diego’s most ubiquitous trees, Cal-Poly SLO’s urban tree selection guide hasn’t updated its preferred Sunset Climate Zone range to acknowledge that most of the newer hybrids resistant to mildew flourish in most of San Diego’s 22-24 climate zones - in addition to zones 18-21. It should be noted that it does say they are adapted to the “southern California coast”. But isn’t that us?
My suspicion is that the original species ‘Lagerstroemia indica’ got mildew so bad, those were initially not recommended for Southern California coastal regions, and perhaps those older cultivars still linger in regional nurseries purchased by unsuspecting and possibly disappointed consumers. However, when the National Arboretum began to hybridize Lagerstroemia indica with the Japanese bred Lagerstroemia fauriei during the 1950’s, the resulting hybrids were welcomed across the United Staes. These were eventually named for Native American Indian tribes - and proved of high value to California landscapes.
Lagerstroemia X fauriei ‘Tuscarora’ – One of the Indian Tribes hybrids Famartin, CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons.
One erroneous assumption about crape myrtles is they’re all small in stature. Although many remain under 20’, there are larger cultivars. They vary in scale and multi-trunked specimens are normal. This website lists many cultivars, but doesn’t mention Lagerstroemia speciosa or the giant crape myrtle, which can grow to 70’ in height, although I have seen that species growing happily in San Diego’s east county. These typically have larger leaves and are easily identifiable by their height.
Giant Crape Myrtle – Lagerstroemia speciosa (note the large leaves) Vengolis, CC BY-SA 3.0. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
If you ever decide to plant a crape myrtle, here’s a good site to get more information.
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