Center Stage® Coral Crape Myrtle

If you want a more sophisticated garden look, using colors that are secondary shades, not primaries, is a great way to achieve that. Avoid ‘obvious’ tones, like clear reds, or clean yellows, and go for more subtle tones, like peaches, dusky pinks, or corals. Between pink and orange, coral is a great garden color for summer, vibrant and bright, yet not garish or obvious. That’s why the Center Stage® Coral Crape Myrtle is such a great plant. The bright coral flowers are set against foliage that is burgundy-black, making them look even brighter. For a hot, sunny spot, even if the soil is dry, this shrubby crape myrtle is a great choice. Forming an upright bush with twiggy branches, it is smaller than the tree-like crape myrtles, and so it’s ideal for smaller gardens and for courtyards, which are often ‘suntraps’. With good disease resistance, and natural vigor, this new variety is sure to have a big impact on the look of your garden, and bring you color all through summer and well into the fall. If you feel your garden needs a feature, here it is, as a specimen, among other shrubs, or as a stunning flowering hedge.

• An abundance of bright coral-pink flowers through summer and fall
• The deep burgundy foliage stays bright, and is disease-resistant
• Excellent choice for a stand-out specimen, or as a flowering screen
• Grows well in hot, dry spots in full sun
• Needs no trimming to stay neat and compact

The Center Stage® Coral Crape Myrtle should be planted in full sun for good results – shade will quickly reduce flowering and overall vigor. Plant it in any well-drained soil, and that includes dry, sandy soils, poor urban soils and dry clays as well. Of course you will need to water a new plant regularly during the first season or two, but once well-established you will be amazed at how well it performs during super-hot and dry summers. It isn’t bothered by deer, rarely has pest issues, and is resistant to powdery mildew, so the leaves never become dusty and white with powdery mildew. Pruning isn’t really necessary, as the growth is naturally twiggy, but if you do need to trim, do it in early spring, as needed. Don’t worry, flowers form on new growth, so spring trimming doesn’t affect that. Remove any dead branches at the same time, cutting back to strong buds.