Double Dynamite®Crape Myrtle

This fabulous Double Dynamite® Crape Myrtle will (thankfully) not blow up your garden, but it will be dynamite in your color arrangements, with both the leaves and flowers providing a double dose of color. The action starts in spring, with the rich, deep purple of the new leaves giving an early color hit. By mid-summer the flowers are out, opening rich pink, and changing to brilliant cherry red as they mature. By that time the leaves have become a deep purple-green. In bloom right up to frost, this variety produces no seeds, so it just keeps on blooming and blooming – dead-heading isn’t needed. Forming a full, rounded bush 8 to 10 feet tall and wide, it’s perfect for filling corners of your yard, adding substance and color to shrub beds, or to create a brilliant, colorful screen that will knock your socks off, and be the talk of the neighborhood. It thrives in hot sun, and once established is completely drought tolerant, so take advantage of the double hit this shrub brings, and give life to your garden with some dynamic new colors.

• Brilliant deep purple leaves in spring, turn to purple-green
• Big heads of flowers that never stop coming from mid-summer on
• Flowers open bright pink, then turn rich cherry-red
• A full, rounded shrub ideal for filling beds and blank spots
• An excellent choice for a vibrant, colorful hedge or screen

Grow the Double Dynamite® Crape Myrtle in full sun – even a small amount of shade will reduce blooming. Plant it in any well-drained soil, from rocky sands to heavy clays. Once established it has great drought tolerance, and thrives in the heat. It isn’t eaten by deer, and almost never has any pest or disease issues to deal with. Since it doesn’t produce seeds, no dead-heading is needed to keep it blooming away. Prune as needed in early spring – flowers form on new stems, so don’t prune in summer. In zone 7 there may be some winter-kill of branches, and your plant may not be so large, but it will still bloom profusely.