Growing Crape Myrtle outdoor in Southern NH
sadovod_
18 years ago
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martieinct
18 years agosadovod_
18 years agoRelated Discussions
Crape myrtle indoors?
Comments (7)Thank you for the feedback! It is secured when I put it on the wide ledge (which also has an iron balcony off of it) - so no worries for it falling and hurting someone. Thanks for the concern though! ;) But your concerns of wind and below freezing temperatures were my concerns - with such a shallow root system. Without the insulation of the ground - I worry its roots staying below freezing for an extended period would be deadly. So is it ideal to keep crapes in 30 to 50 degrees range - for their dormancy? And water it once a week or once every two weeks? When freezing temps. occur - will the wet dirt freezing hurt the root system - or is this part of what's needed during its dormancy. (as the ground freezing occurs when crapes are in nature). I'm from the Carolinas - and our large outdoor crape myrtles are very old - and they overwinter in the insulating ground in 20 to 50 degree temperatures from December to mid April. This is my only deciduous bonsai (and my first one) - and is primarily an indoor bonsai. I am bonsai-ing it from collected stock, so cost isn't much of a factor. It grew so beautifully this year and continued blooming into October - and is just beginning to loose its leaves. I just want to give it its best chance for continued survival. I will look into identifying my variety of crape - to better determine its hardiness. Again, any advice is greatly appreciated!! Thank you!!...See MoreCrape Myrtles & Reflected Southern Sun
Comments (6)Thank you, Ken. But I don't think that really answers my question. Although, I do appreciate your answer, because you have given me some more to think about as far as my planting options. The photos that you have referenced: were they taken in the Deep South? I ask this, because the Hopi Crape Myrtle and other crape myrtles will not grow as large in South Central Kansas as they do in South Carolina due to the colder winters the further North you travel. Many crapes even die back, sometimes to the ground, when the temperature drops below 15 degrees, which does make for nice natural size control. In addition to this, the mid-sized crape myrtles, such as Hopi and Plum Magic, can be kept smaller and still maintain their natural form through pruning, although I may have to do a lot of pruning. So back to my original question, will the Hopi and Plum Magic Crape Myrtles scorch under the conditions I mentioned before? Maybe the answer to my dilemma is to look for varieties of crape myrtles that will definitely die back during the winter but still grow again, flower, and reach my target height by mid-summer. Anyway, please let me know what you think?...See Morecrape myrtles
Comments (2)While not expert with CMs, I would guess that in the fall, as the CMs start to go dormant, you can dig them up and pot them. CMs are tough trees, even the dwarf ones, and should be able to cope with being moved into a pot. If you chose a fairly large pot, you can keep them in it for the next year, or you can replant them come spring. If leaving them in the ground means they freeze all their top-growth, since you say that they are dwarf anyway, so they won't grow into tall trees, cutting them back hard, if needed, should be fine. As a rule, I don't like the practice of trimming CMs back hard - I think topped trees are UGLY! But these, if they look like the ones I am familiar with, look more like shrubs anyway, not trees. They flower on new growth, so it shouldn't affect flowering. You could also treat a few as tender perennials, leaving them in the ground, wrapping them up well, like your roses, and hope they don't freeze all their top-growth. You could experiment and see what seems the best method - in ground or dug - or you can opt for safety and dig all of them, since you effectively DID the experiment this winter. Kept in an unheated garage or storage area, once they lose their leaves, and kept barely moist, they should be fine over the winter. You could then experiment to see if replanting them or leaving them in pots was the better method....See MoreDynamite Crape Myrtle being phased out?
Comments (13)Siren Red is nice too, but a smaller tree than Dynamite- Monrovia's site says Red Rocket only gets to 6-12 feet tall and 5 feet wide- that could be a good choice depending on the size you're looking for, but I really needed something bigger (I wanted something that would provide some nice shade and at an eventual 15-20' tall, 10-15' wide, Dynamite was a better choice for me). I considered Red Rocket too, but that variety seems even harder to find than Dynamite in my area (no one I talked to had ever seen it), and the difference between the 2 seems pretty minimal to me. Anyway, I planted my Dynamite today, so we'll see how it goes. I'm starting to think the guy at Armstrong that said all that stuff in my first post may have been confused or something....See Moremartieinct
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