Thanks for the replies!! I didn't think that crape myrtles were grafted, but I'm going to email Ms Halleck and see if she can give me any info. I bought the one on the right and the one in the middle last spring at Home Depot. . .kept them in their pots (outside but watered) all year and was going to plant this spring (ha! can't be accused of rushing into something!). The one one the left came out late April/early May, the one in the middle I thought might be dead but there was green wood when I snapped a twig, so I kept hoping. . and watering. Finally gave up and went back to HD this spring and got another BD (albiet a little smaller). Now, the little "late to the game" guy is making leaves! They are not the dark burgandy/black, but not as green as my other myrtles. . .really a guess as to what will happen. Think I will plant the two dark ones where I initially planned last year and put the other lil guy in a place unto is own. Again, thanks all!!

Speaking or Red Rockets, I have planted one in my back yard that just recently bloomed for the first time, and the blooms came out PINK!? I'm really upset about it, because I really liked the color of red rockets that I have seen on the internet and was pretty excited about seeing it bloom.... I spoke with someone at millburgers' in san antonio where i bought the 5 gallon plant a couple of months ago and they told me that all of their red rockets are blooming pink at the moment... they told me to give the blooms a chance to mature and that maybe they would change color.... Is this right? do the red rocket blooms change as they get older??

I picked up a Blush Black Diamond from Lowes' sale table. I love the foliage color, but am having a hard time finding a full sun place for it. Does anyone know if it's subject to mildew? Well, I looked up some links and several sources say it is mildew resistant. It looks like it will be a great substitute the the dark leaved plum trees which everybody was planting for awhile, but they didn't live very long. Here is a link that might be useful: Black Diamond Blush ...

The plant is ok, there's nothing wrong with it. It's just producing large amounts of anthocyanin (red pigments) in the leaves maybe in response to the large amount of sun it gets. Actually the flowers can fade on cloudy days because it doesn't get enough sun i think.