Muskogee Crape Myrtle
Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei 'Muskogee'
Muskogee Crape Myrtle
Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei 'Muskogee'
How are the heights measured?
All tree, and nothin' but the tree! We measure from the top of the soil to the top of the tree; the height of the container or the root system is never included in our measurements.
What is a gallon container?
Nursery containers come in a variety of different sizes, and old-school nursery slang has stuck. While the industry-standard terminology is to call the sizes "Gallon Containers", that doesn't exactly translate to the traditional liquid "gallon" size we think of. You'll find we carry young 1-gallons, up to more mature 7-gallons ranging anywhere from 6 inches to 6ft.
How does the delivery process work?
All of our orders ship via FedEx Ground! Once your order is placed online, our magic elves get right to work picking, staging, boxing and shipping your trees. Orders typically ship out within 2 business days. You will receive email notifications along the way on the progress of your order, as well as tracking information to track your plants all the way to their new home!
Why are some states excluded from shipping?
The short & sweet answer is: "United States Department of Agriculture Restrictions." Every state has their own unique USDA restrictions on which plants they allow to come into their state. While we wish we could serve everyone, it's for the safety of native species and helps prevent the spread of invasive disease & pests. We've gotta protect good ole' Mother Nature, after all.
About Me
-
Purple Lavender Blooms – The Muskogee Crape Myrtle is a fast-growing small tree that can easily be grown in all the warmer parts of America. It makes a great specimen plant in a lawn or and also a terrific choice for a privacy screen since it combines beauty, sturdiness and good size with rapid growth and trouble-free culture. This Crape Myrtle has lavender-pink flowers from early summer and into the fall and is distinctive for beginning to bloom earlier than most other Crape Myrtles.
⢠Gorgeous lavender flowers all summer and fall
⢠Large specimen tree or tall screen
⢠Perfect for hot and dry locations
⢠Clean foliage even during hot and humid weather
⢠Drought resistant for low-maintenance gardening
In fall the leaves will turn beautiful shades of orange and red, adding to the interest created by this beautiful plant. In warm areas the Muskogee Crape Myrtle will grow into a tree 25 to 35 feet tall, with a sturdy trunk. In cooler regions it will grow 6 to 10 feet tall as a bushy shrub.
- Plant Hardiness Zones 7-11
- Mature Width 20
- Mature Height 25-30
- Sun Needs Full Sun, Partial Sun
Crape Myrtles are great plants for warmer areas and over the years many different varieties have been produced by plant breeders. They make beautiful small trees that can be controlled by pruning and they will produce large bunches of colorful flowers in summer and through fall right up to the last frost. They are easy, drought-resistant, trouble-free plants that belong in every garden warm enough for them to grow in.
The Muskogee Crape Myrtle is especially showy because its lavender-pink flowers begin to appear as early as spring and continue right into the fall, making to one of the longest blooming Crape Myrtles available. It has been specially bred to be resistant to the unsightly powdery mildew that often disfigures other Crape Myrtles and detracts from their beauty, so this plant will be gorgeous all the time.
Growing Muskogee Crape Myrtle Trees
If you live in cooler areas and have always admired the Crape Myrtles of the South, this tree can also be grown in the warmer parts of zone 6. There it will die back to the roots in winter but it will rapidly re-sprout in spring and by summer be at least 6 feet tall and covered in blooms. It can be grown behind other flowering Perennial plants and will flower with Phlox and other late-flowering Perennials.
Muskogee Crape Myrtle is a rapid-growing plant that can grow as much as 10 feet a year from an established plant. Newly planted bushes will grow 3 to 6 feet in their first year. Crape Myrtle is known for its drought-resistance and ability to flourish in hot, dry, exposed places and even in spots with only a little soil available. It has no important pests and it is also deer resistant, so it can be planted anywhere.
Size
Muskogee Crape Myrtle will usually grow as a tree with a single trunk rather than the multiple trunks seen with smaller Crape Myrtles. So if you are looking for a specimen tree that really looks like a tree this plant is a great choice.Ā It will grow to 35 feet tall and 15 to 25 feet broad, making it the ideal Crape Myrtle if you want a larger tree.
Colors and Appearance
The large bunches of lavender-pink flowers are produced for almost 6 months of the year, giving a continuous display. The leaves are thick and leathery and grow about 4 inches long, which is larger than those of most other Crape Myrtles. In fall the leaves turn orange and red and Muskogee makes a particularly beautiful fall display, since some other varieties just turn yellow.
Muskogee also has especially beautiful mottled gray to tan-brown bark which falls in strips (āexfoliatesā) to reveal fresh bark beneath. In zone 6 most of the top-growth will die over the winter, but strong new shoots will grow up from the base and form a 6 to 10 foot shrub, which will flower in summer and into the fall.Ā Once new shoots are seen in spring, you should remove the dead branches back to those new shoots.
Planting Location
Choose a sunny spot for your Muskogee Crape Myrtle. It should be planted in well-drained soil and not in a low-lying area of your garden. It will grow in all kinds of soil as long as they are not regularly wet and it has some salt-resistance so it can be planted close to a road. It is perfectly hardy in zones 7 to 9 and will grow in zone 6 too, although the branches will die in winter, so it will obviously not grow so tall and be shrub-like in that region.
It is important when planting Crepe Myrtles not to plant any deeper than the containers they are in and not to cover the roots with a lot of soil. So dig a hole two or three times wider than the pot, but no deeper. Place your plants in the hole, replace most of the soil and firm it well down. Then water thoroughly and replace the rest of the soil, being careful not to cover the roots with any extra soil.
History and Origins of the Muskogee Crape Myrtle
The common Crape Myrtle (Lagerstroemia indica) was first brought to Charleston, South Carolina around 1790 from its natural home in China and Korea. It thrived in the warm climate there and has long been a symbol of summer in the South, with its vivid blooms. There have been many color forms produced by plant breeders, but the problem of mildew has always been an issue for gardeners.
The Muskogee Crape Myrtle is a hybrid between the common Crape and another species, Lagerstroemia fauriei. It was released in 1978 and is the product of a program at the National Arboretum, Washington D.C. to breed new Crape Myrtles with resistance to mildew. All these plants were named after Native American Tribes and the Tuscarora Crape Myrtle is another hardy, mildew-resistant plant from this program that is smaller if the Muskogee Crape is too large for your needs.
Buying Muskogee Crape Myrtles at The Tree Center
Muskogee Crape Myrtle is such a special plant that only the exact plant will have the right color and growth rate. So, it must be produced directly from trees absolutely known to be right. Our trees are grown the correct way, from branch cuttings of these special trees. That way every tree we offer is identical to the original one. However, these take longer to produce, so avoid cheaper, seedling trees that will only be a disappointment.
We sell only trees that are true to the original form and we have a wide range of sizes to give you the best plant for your purpose. However we are constantly renewing our stock so our customers get fresh, healthy plants, so supplies of this tree may be limited. To avoid disappointment order now.