I know this is an old post, but I'm sure others will find it like I did. I have three Dynamite crape myrtles all bought at different stores but all planted about 6 to 8 years ago. I've had the same exact experience with them just never growing much higher than 10 ft so far. None of them have lived up to expectations as far as size. The flowers are beautiful and I get comments all the time but how great it is from people walking by but definitely not what was intended or advertised. I frankly had wondered if the first one planted was actually its first cousin, the red rocket, because while it has all the traits of a dynamite, super red white specks when cloudy, it's growing more straight than roundish, like the red rocket was supposed to. But the two that I planted in the backyard are pretty much doing the same thing. I would doubt three different growers ripped me off but who knows? I live in Maryland, so my weather is similar to the OP. Maybe that has something to do with it, but I'm curious if people in other places had better luck with these. So far these things have turned out to be really big bushes rather than trees.

I have overdone it in years past, and I did do the Three Sisters sale in May and bought plugs at GMT in May too. [not mail order] So I am pretty well set except for a few extras. Some areas of my garden are definitely filling in and have little room for additions, but I have at least four more areas that need a lot of work, so I am not in any real danger of having no room left. [g] I have a large pot near my gate, that I have tried annual groupings and a vine, one year. Nothing has satisfied me so far. I'm always looking for another way to sneak in another rose, so I thought, why not try one in the pot? I'm thinking of a non stop bloomer, like a miniature rose, or a shrub rose? It is late to find one though. I discovered this year that I am able to keep the two roses in my front, full sun garden bed, looking very good and getting some rebloom. Someone who is an organic gardener gave me a few tips and so far I'm tickled with the result. I added compost in the spring, plus an organic fertilizer, plus alfalfa pellets and it has made a big difference. I did the organic fertilizer and alfalfa again after the first flush and this year is the first time I've had rebloom. This is my third year with these two particular roses. Last year they looked so awful with a lot of insect damage and one flush of bloom followed by horrible foliage and nothing else, that I was planning on yanking them and giving up on roses. I cut them all the way back with no leaves on them in June waiting for some help to dig them out, and they came back with decent foliage for the rest of the season and little else but earned a reprieve. So this year I feel like I can make a go of it, but I'll wait for next spring to try one in that pot. Dtd....you must have a garden full of Hydrangea. [g] I seem to be getting a collection going too and they are having a wonderful year! Even the oakleaf seems to have enough water. I have some projects developing for the fall that didn't get done this spring so I need a few things. I only have a couple of pots hanging around to plant at the moment. I called NEWFS looking for the fern and mosses, but they didn't have them. I did find Blanchette in Carlisle did have a few miniature plants I was looking for. They don't have end of the season sales for some reason though. Thanks Dee, I think I will go with mad gallica's suggestion to wait until the spring for those. Thanks for reminding me about Heirloom, though. It must be too early for much plant shopping or sales. Maybe everyone is still on vacation. :-) pm2

Quite possibly the WORST company I have ever dealt with. You would be better off purchasing your cabinets from Home Depot - you will get better customer service, warranty, and quality. Showplace cabinetry is of inferior quality and the "Lifetime Warranty" is useless. If you decide to purchase from this company do yourself a favor and take video while your cabinets are removed from packaging and document everything. NOT that this will help you in the end because Showplace will blame the installer and you for using the wrong cleaning products (BTW -the only thing I ever used to clean my cabinets is a damp microfiber cloth). In response to our warranty addressing the inconsistent spray and overall fogginess of our black painted cabinets, the Showplace rep Cheryl Eisenman responded "Worn paint, what have they been using to clean this? Her first response is to blame the client instead of getting to the root cause of their own crappy product. You think they would be concerned if this is the final result they are actually sending to the client. The only representative from Showplace I have been able to actually speak to was the local rep Jason Heiner, he actually came to our home to view the issues for himself. Jason acknowledged the majority of the issues our dealer/installer brought to the attention of the warranty department. I had hoped that since their own rep witnessed the problems it would be resolved. In the end, the majority of our claim was denied. I contacted Jason and he reached out to the head of Customer Relations Kerry Hayes and indicated I would be receiving a phone call from her. Weeks later, no phone call, I contacted Jason again. Here is his texted response....."Showplace has made the decision and passed it on to your dealer and it is now between YOU and the DEALER. Showplace communicates only with their dealer base only. Please reach out to him going forward." All I can say to that is WOW! So basically, screw you. You are at the mercy of the dealer. Our dealer failed to submit our claim within their 1-year policy. How is this the client’s fault?? Are their "specially trained" DEALERS not an extension of their company?? They do NOT stand behind their product or the dealers that they choose to do business with. Our cabinets were delivered in March of 2021 and we here we are 2 years later and none of our warranty items have been replaced. The one item that was sent was of no better quality than the original product. The pictures speak for themselves. WORST experience ever, appalling BAD customer experience.

There are areas around here that are stunningly beautiful and look like a postcard with rolling farm hills and red barns. It's about 10 minutes from where I am. There are also lots and lots of orchards up higher toward the mountains. You can also go way up to Mt Spokane and ski in winter. The town is divided somehow into 4 places. There's West where the AFB is and its mostly plains areas, the South area is up on a rocky hill and it has great views and horrible driving in winter, the North side is more crowded, smaller lots, poorer area unless you get way out North toward Deer Park and its just really really beautiful. Farms everywhere and red barns and rolling hills and roads that wind up into the hills. So way out of town about half an hour after you break traffic it gets really pretty. We live in the Eastern part of town which is called the Valley. It's huge. There is East Valley, West Valley, Central Valley and Greenacres which is where we are. We are 10 minutes or less from Idaho border. This area, this little strip on one side of Appleway (named for the apple orchards) is like in another dimension. It feels like the 1950's, there's lots of people working on older cars, there's horses around behind my house, the lots are huge. I mean really really huge. And they're uneven, so one house might have an entire acre behind it, and the next one further into town might have 2/3 of an acre so it's split up oddly, but the lots are more like acreage. There's no small lots unless you run into those awful communities that so many people love that I can't stand where all the houses look alike, they tell you the color to paint your house, and you have to get permission to plant stuff. Just not my style. There are locked communities just outside town on all 3 sides for people who live in mansions I suppose, just not my style. I've always loved farmhouses, we've rented lots of them, fixed them up, moved into other farm houses, fixed them up, and then I finally got this one one such a nice lot. It's double fenced because of the horses. Horse people do not like your dogs running back and forth along the fence barking when they're working their horses, so we fenced halfway back where the forest of trees are, and shut out the back pasture, which has only 1 tree and its open. That's the one that really needs development with landscaping and it has to fit into this area. So nothing modern, stuff like grapes along the fencing, it's cattle fencing with old posts back there that are likely 100 years old. I'm growing food gardens back there now, but I want a golden curls willow back there, and somehow a Queen Anne Cherry tree starting growing on the North leftside. I consider myself and our family really lucky even though the houses are small. They were mostly built 1920's or after. Ours was the first one, they're all small 2 bedroom 1 bathroom with mother in law setups out back and then pasture land. The taxes are through the roof, it's the black soil, and the schools. It's really high, and its all worth it to me. Plus the whole street is treed out front over the street, so this street itself is just gorgeous. People walk their dogs and sometimes horses down the street. We are indeed lucky. Lots of people have chickens, everyone has dogs, some have up to 5 dogs, cats are everywhere because of the barns, and horses. Also, apparently there are porcupines and skunks. My neighbor said "they really love your jungle over there". funny