It must be going around- see link below :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Crape Myrtle

I can't quite tell from your photo, is that ONE trunk plus a bamboo stake for support, or two separate trunks?

If 2 trunks, you answer is simple, someone stuck 2 different varieties in the same pot. However, to me it does look like just a bamboo stake, if that is the case, while not common, it is always possible for any plant to throw what is known as a "bud sport" that is a genetic mutation which is different in some way from the original. The difference could be in any aspect of the plant, foliage, growth habit, flower color, fruit, etc. Many plants are "discovered" as sports of known varieties or species, for example, "red" pears.

And, the person who told you it wouldn't bloom in the pot was just wrong, they make wonderful blooming potted deck/patio plants, and in fact are one of the better choices because they bloom on new wood and therefore are pretty adapted to pruning for size control.

I sure can't figure out why anyone would have told you that your crApe myrtle wouldn't bloom while in a pot. That's crazy. All you have to do to disprove that is to visit a local nursery at bloom time!

As for the two colored blooms, are you talking about the white areas on the red blooms? If so, that's also reasonably common. As a matter of fact, we've discussed it here just in the last two or three days.

It is indeed two trunks rising from the same roots and I have debated cutting off the smaller one, but my wife wants to keep it. And since it is HER tree, I don't argue. Much. However, only the larger trunk is currently flowering. And yes Brandon, I'm talking about two different blossoms with different colors, not a single blossom with multiple colors.

Thank you for the information regarding the mutations, the leaves on the new growth do look different from the leaves on the old growth, I'll have to take pictures of the two. Also, thank you for Cear for the link to the other post. In the other post, Brandon suggests not enough light, but this tree is on the south side of my house and while the lanai shades it in the morning, it gets hit by sunlight around 10:15 am and keeps getting it until 7:45pm (currently), so I don't think lack of sunlight is an issue.

Either tomorrow or the next day I hope to take pictures of the new white flowers fully opened along with the red ones. Once I have them, I'll post them here along with pictures of the different leaves.

Note: I believe her tree is actually a rooted branch from another Crepe Myrtle. Again, I'm no horticulturist, but something about this tree just screams "Cutting!" at me. And while there are two trunks, they are too neatly 'fused' at the roots to suggest two trunks grafted together as I see no evidence of the 'scarring' that I have seen on other grafted plants.

It has to be two different plants. Follow the trunk down from the red blossoms. The two trunks are fused together because they have been together since they were cuttings.
I've done it with Azaleas.
Mike

i will jump to a conclusion.. different for the rest..

if you leave that giant plant.. in that tiny pot.. with the pot in the sun..

that plant will be severely damaged ...

black pots.. in full sun generate very high heat.. and you will cook the roots and harm the plant..

the tree itself can stay in sun.. but protect that pot on the south and west from sun .. until you can plant it ...

and i would do that.. in fall ... in my experience anyway ... but the window can be pushed.. if you do it right ...

looking back at your pic.. i would put it all in the shade of that tree behind ... the place you got it from.. can get away with it.. because they pay people to water it.. 2 or 3 times a day ...

and.. lastly.. given proper nutrients.. there is no reason that any plant.. can not thrive and bloom in a pot ... they usually dont.. because.. due to the frequent waterings.. most nutrients run out the bottom.. and if potted long term.. they lack what they need to flower ... though otherwise.. they are fine ...

link below to brandons planting guide.. since you consider yourself a novice ...

good luck

ken

Here is a link that might be useful: brandons planting guide

Judging by the appearance of this plant, it woud be my guess that it is a seedling. Or two seedlings. I've seen many unusual physical expressions in seedling crapes; considering the complicated genotype, we shouldn't be at all surprised at an unexpected phenotype.

Most crapes on the commercial market are hybrid crosses propagated by grafting or cuttings. Such plants are considered true clones and their physical characteristics are fairly predictable. Even cloned hybrids can have some unusual characteristics, though.

Seedlings, grown from collected seeds, are sold with labels that read "red, pink, lavender, or white " but it's pretty much a crap shoot as to what the flowers will look like in the years to come. I am not at all surprised at your multi-colored flowers.

As far as container growing goes, be sure that you do some research on a good bark-based nursery mix. Your potting medium is the most important element in the long term success of your plant. Occasional root pruning will be of great benefit and allow you to maintain a healthy plant without potting UP every few years.

With a little bit of information gathering there is no reason why you can't have a crapemyrtle in a sunny location, in a container, for many years.

Thank you, Ken for the information about the pot. We are currently looking for a 25" pot to transplant it into (it is currently in a 15" pot and I agree it's too small), while we have not been looking at black pots, I will make sure that one my wife finally picks will be of a 'cool' color. Until we find one, I will find a way to shade this pot from the sun.

Unfortunately, we will not be planting this one in-ground. We are looking at moving in about 2-3 years and since this was a birthday gift for my wife, who had wanted a Crape Myrtle ever since she first moved to Florida, we're going to be taking it with us and planting it at the new house. If we put it in the ground here, the park we're in will not allow us to dig it back up. Screwed up rules, I agree, but I agreed to live by them when we moved in, never dreaming at the time that I would get into gardening and plants. But yes, you are correct, I did some research a year ago and found out that here in Florida, fall is definitely the best time to plant new trees. Planting them in spring is supposedly a good way to have a fried young tree once summer kicks into full swing. So we tend to have our own little Arbor Day in October or November.

The oak in the background is my neighbor's and let's just say I would not trust them to leave the Crape alone if I placed it closer to their yard (They think that Mountain Sorrel is a flower suitable for funerals and that same oak is digging holes in their roof and they like it that way).

Being a disabled vet, I have pretty open days and water the tree on a daily basis with collected rainwater, or when I can put my index finger 1 1/2 - 2 inches into the soil and not feel moisture. I have also collected root suckers from this tree and gotten them started in their own, smaller pots. These I will end up planting in-ground when they are big enough.

Also thank you for your information, Rhizo. Your insight into the nature of cuttings vs seedlings has me really wondering which this tree came from. I asked the person who purchased this tree where she got it from and she said she picked it up from an Open Country Grocer that I am familiar with, basically it is a really nice road-side vegetable stand but with all the amenities of a grocery store. She had asked them if they had any Crape Myrtles and they showed her this one and another one that had 6 trunks. There were no labels or anything on them and, at the time, neither had put out any leaf buds. So it was kind of a crape-shoot on if she was actually getting a Crape Myrtle or not. But since my wife was wanting a 'tree' variety and not the stemmy shrub variety, this one was purchased.

Now that my curiosity is growing, I have a related question: Is it possible, if this is two trunks grafted together, that one tree could inherit the traits of the tree it is grafted to? Or do the trunks tend to stay fairly true to themselves and just share a root system?

The oak in the background is my neighbor's and let's just say I would not trust them to leave the Crape alone if I placed it closer to their yard

==>> i meant just move the pot over there.. while you figure out what to do with it ... or do you mean they would even screw with the pot????

the pot should not be in the sun.. during the hottest parts of the day ...

and you can simply put it behind a chair.. hay bale.. anything to simply block the sun ... or simply on the north side of that screened porch ... dont make this mysteriously hard.. just get the pot out of direct sun ...

semper fi dude.. and thank you [regardless of if you were a marine]

ken

Leekle, two different crapemyrtles will not combine their characteristics if they graft successfully with one another. Trees and shrubs of all different kinds are grafted on the root stocks of something else...as a general rule. The root stock retains its own 'stuff' and the grafted part, even if only a bud (as in roses) will retain its.

The only way to get plants to combine their physical attributes is the old fashioned way....sex. It always gets down to that, doesn't it, lolol. Plant sperm is carried in the pollen which will need to get transferred to the plant's ovaries, which carry the eggs. Just as with the animal world, the egg and sperm carry an enormous amount of genetic information.

If you want the blooms to fade, put a crepe myrtle in the shadd.

If anything can stand the horrors if a black pot in summer, it's crepe myrtle.....

Really though, aside from sentimental value of a gifted plant, these things are cheap and fast. I say plant it for good karma....

Crepe Myrtles grow easily from tip cuttings, and since the plant came from a roadside nursery, I bet the owner has a bunch at home and simply makes cuttings. I got mine from a friend who was moving to a retirement community and wasn't moving any plants. She wanted me to root some for her, so we made a bunch and I kept a few. The method of propagation is not hard. Make cuttings in late June, stick them in water. Plant them out in August. Wait 3 years for bloom. We did the same to her Callicarpa dichotoma.

Well, I said I would post them when they finally opened up, so here they are. I think I have resigned myself to the simple explanation of mutation. In the first image you can clearly see that both sets of blooms are on the same branch, much less the same tree. In the second picture, where I placed a pink circle, there was a white blossom that was tinged with pink around the edges, but for some reason (possibly my daughter...) that bud fell off shortly after opening.


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