In the Garden: Crape Myrtles — love them, or not?
By Victoria Register Freeman
I have a friend who refers to the twin trees on each side of her Historic District driveway as Crap Myrtles. Her mispronunciation is intended to convey her distain for the multi-trunked trees even though their white blossoms present her with a riotous visual bouquet throughout the summer.
I confess, my friend’s shoulder shrugging disdain colored my opinion of Crape Myrtles. They were such lightweights compared to the regal live oaks that line the District’s traffic corridors.
I was wrong!
According to Terry DelValle, UF Extension Agent, Crape Myrtles provide more than just our summer bouquets. Lagerstroemia indica, as they are known to the cognoscenti, also host the crape myrtle aphid. Why do you want to encourage aphids? They are food for 20 to 30 beneficial insect predators plus bees and wasps. In other words, the Crape myrtles serve as bed and breakfasts for the good guys— the pollinators and the good predators. This means that average homeowners can use fewer pesticides, a choice that makes the world a more sustainable place.
The myrtles come in all sizes too, so if the homeowner is planting them under power lines, they can elect a medium myrtle rather than a tall one that might require a flat top later on, a style of pruning that some folks call Crape Murder, others call “ Elvis in the Army.” A few medium myrtle cultivars are Osage, Apalachee, and Comanche. If an even shorter tree is desired, the dwarfs and semi-dwarfs fill the bill: Acoma, Tonto, and the Dazzles. Of course, for street scapes the tall ones screen the SUV’s best. A walk through the District will reveal samples of Miami, Natchez, Biloxi and Tuscarora cultivars.
And, best of all, these cultivars are resistant to the former scourge of the myrtle family, powdery mildew. It not too late to plant a few Myrtles. The Lady Beetles, Green Lacewings, Brown Lacewings and Paying Mantids will sing your praises.
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