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Oklahoma Gardening

crape myrtles are hardy

sammy zone 7 Tulsa

9 years ago

Last year at the end of the season I purchased about 5 dwarf crape myrtles in small pots. I never got around to planting them, and did not even find a place to store them. I left them in the front of the house, never having made a decision about what to do with them.

Our cold dry winter came and went, but I never got around to putting the poor things in the trash. I looked at them daily, yet did not move them.

Last week I noticed some growth. At this time 4 of the 5 are showing significant growth.

Their ultimate height should be 5 feet - something I doubt, but I will see.

Now I have to find a good place for them.

Sammy

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Comments (6)

Lynn Dollar
9 years ago
My Wife and I bought a dwarf Crape Myrtle a couple weeks ago and we can't decide where to plant it. I was building a flower bed for it in one corner of the yard, and ran over the Cox Cable lead wire with my tiller, so now we are in a holding pattern till Cox gets out here to run another drop into the house. I'm not planting anything till I find out were they put this wire.

We really only have one spot that gets full sun, the other options are against the north side of a fence, or on the east side of a fence.
mksmth zone 7a Tulsa Oklahoma
9 years ago
I picked up some clearance Black Diamond crepes at the end of the season last year. They did see a light freeze before I could get them in the ground. neither made through the winter. All my old established crepe did just fine this winter. I had some die back but not very much.

Mike
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I've seen Crape Myrtles growing in central Iowa (zone 5) too without much protection from the North wind. Keep in mind that those grown in zone 5 usually die to the ground each winter but resprout from the roots in the Spring (May?) and they are the hardier cultivars, such as Pink Valour, Hopi, Velma's Royal Delight, and Sarah's Favorite. I have recently been in contact with one of the horticulturists at Kansas State University. She has been very helpful and will soon release a free publication about hardy shrubs for Kansas. You may want to contact the University of Missuori's Extension office. They probably have some publications that can help you figure out the best way to insure your Pink Valour Crape Myrtle survives the winter and then thrives through the summer. Their web address is below. Here is a link that might be useful: Selecting Landscape Plants: Deciduous Shrubs
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It'll die back to the ground but resprout in the spring (possible early summer). Crape myrtles don't begin to leaf out until temperatures at night are in the upper 60s and 70s. The question is, will the tree have time to grow back to where its significant enough to take the time for before the next frost kills it to the ground again? I'd recommend growing one in a large pot and brining it in during winter. Heading off the leader so it does not grow too large to bring in. I've heard stories of them growing in NYC, so microclimates are important. The retained heat from the city concrete allows then to survive winter.
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Hey Neil, If you live around Chicago, you probably aren't really in zone 5a. The old map with data from over 2 decades ago shows you in that zone, but since then, things have warmed up almost everywhere and the old map is really of no value. If you use the same formulas they used back then but with new data, you'll probably be in a low zone 6. Chicago is zone 6. There are some crape myrtles hardy to zone 6. Since you are probably in the lower part of that zone, the trees might need a little protection in the coldest winters. If you plant smaller varieties where they can get a little protection from your house, you have a good chance of being able to grow them outside year around. Other posters have reported being able to grow certain crape myrtles outdoors in Chicago previously in this forum.
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FWIW, the "wild type" Lagerstroemia indica, popular in the South for roughly 200 years, is definitely not hardy enough *to become a tree* in the colder parts of the NoVA (Fairfax and Loudoun counties) suburbs. I remember as a teenager growing up in that area, around the early 90s, they were much less commonly seen. The only true tree sized plant I can remember was in downtown Leesburg. The one in my parents garden near the Ffx/Lnd border would die back in about 1/2 to 1/3rd of winters. It would still manage to bloom that year from new wood, but that sort of thing could cause someone to throw the plant out for dead. So the OP might have once heard from an old-timer that crape myrtles were not hardy in the area. Around this time though, the National Arboretum hybrids involving L. fauriei started becoming popular. These can remain arborescent at temperatures around 0F, as well as having an improve range of colors. I was recently in SE Virginia, though, and their popularity there far exceeds even in the Washington, DC area. It seems like over 1/2 of the planted trees are crape myrtles!
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sammy zone 7 Tulsa
Original Author
9 years ago
LC, I wish there were an easy way to mark where they put the cables. I used to stick a rebar cane in the ground, but something always happened to it. The simple thing would be to mark it on my rose map, but I have never done that.

Mike my Black Diamond ones (2) have just recently begun growing from the ground. If you have not already destroyed the plant, there may be hope.

Sammy
MiaOKC
9 years ago
LC, we have severed our Cox cable (in the front flower bed, buried about a half inch deep - thanks, Cox!) just digging with a shovel. They didn't reroute our cable, just sent a guy with a repair splice and he wrapped it around the two pieces of cable and squeezed it shut. He even left us a spare since he could tell we might run into this problem again.

We later had a backyard cable re-run because they couldn't find where it went (?!?!) underground, and they sent a guy out to trench and run a new one. He chose the location, and I swear, that thing is ON TOP OF THE GROUND in some places. Like he couldn't be bothered to bury it even a measly half inch like the rest is.

If you want to DIY the repair, it seemed super easy. I'll link to a picture of the doo-dad the cable guy used. Might save you the service call, anyway.

Here is a link that might be useful: coax repair splice
Okiedawn OK Zone 7
9 years ago
My Black Diamonds survived the winter and they were in large decorative pots, which generally counts as being one zone colder because they lack the insulation of plants in the ground.

LC, In Fort Worth in the 1980s/90s we have had good bloom from Crape Myrtles that were in a morning sun/afternoon shade situation.

Dawn
Lynn Dollar
9 years ago
Mia, its too late, they've already been out to run a new drop, but its yet to be buried. Been two weeks now, and I've got my yard flagged and spray painted by OKIE, waitin for them.

And they told me I would get the bill to rebury the line. Amazing. They too cheap to bury them deep, then if homeowner accidently cuts line, they charge him. Nice way of passing costs to customer.

Problem is, there is no building code that requires them to bury at a certain depth, as all the other utilities have to abide by. Soooo, for Cox, its cheaper the better.

Dawn, thanks, that helps bunches, in fact, it probably settles the issue.

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