Lagerstroemia indica Midnight Magic - Crape Myrtle

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Midnight Magic' is a superb variety of Indian Lilac with an upright and compact habit. It is decorative throughout the entire growing season with its beautiful deep purple foliage. Throughout the summer, it produces beautiful dark pink inflorescences at the ends of the branches. This beautiful bush is grown in the sun in ordinary soil and must be pruned short each spring. It can be grown in a container on a terrace, or even brought indoors in winter in regions where the frost is sharp. Elsewhere it will withstand without problem down to -15°C or even less, in light soil, not too dry in summer but draining in winter. A beautiful summer lilac for small gardens and flower beds.

The Indian Lilac 'Midnight Magic' belongs to the small family of Lythraceae, known for also hosting the pomegranate (Punica granatum), of which there are species with flowers and others with fruits, as well as the Cuphea, some species of which are used as flowering perennials on the Mediterranean coast. These are indeed moderately to slightly hardy plants, Lagerstroemia being one of the hardiest, as it withstands down to -10°C to -15°C. However, it needs warmth to flower, which limits its interest in northern areas, even if its bark becomes decorative over time, as the branches or trunk thicken. Indeed, in cool areas, it is most often present as a bush but in the south, there are specimens formed as trees.

'Midnight Magic' is a recent variety (2010), from the breeder Joshua Kardos. Holder of a Ph. D. in Horticulture from the University of Georgia in the United States, J. Kardosh has filed about thirty patents for different plant genera (Buddleia, Hydrangea, Lantana, Loropetalum but especially Lagerstroemia). This variety is remarkable for its deep purple foliage very decorative even before flowering. It creates beautiful foliage contrasts when planted in a flower bed with other bushes or perennials. Its remarkable flowering is of a vivid dark pink colour. The rather airy inflorescences are composed of thin pedicels each carrying a flower with five very undulate petals, whose texture recalls that of a crepe. This variety is part of a series selected by J. Kardos on compactness criteria. It has a rather upright habit and forms at maturity a bush of about 2 m (6 ft 7 in) high for 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in) in spread. These dimensions are indicative because the annual pruning to be practiced can also serve to limit its development, especially if it is grown in a container.

This Lagerstroemia grows in fresh but well-drained soil and accommodates most terrains, neutral to slightly acidic or limestone. On the other hand, it absolutely needs a sunny exposure and must be pruned every year at the end of winter to flower well. It is indeed imperative to select the most vigorous shoots, to prune them short (to 4 or 5 buds) and to eliminate all the twigs and thin shoots that will give no flower. You can grow it in a container on a terrace in very cold regions. Then you will have to plan to water it regularly in summer because these living conditions are more drying than in the open ground, the roots not being able to plunge into the soil to feed themselves.

Preferring the humid and hot South Atlantic to the dry and windy Mediterranean, this bush nevertheless succeeds well on the Côte d'Azur provided it is watered in summer. It also deserves to be acclimatised in the colder areas of our country, as it withstands -15°C without problem, or even more when it is well established. One must just accept that it blooms less or little in case of cool summer, because it is a plant that needs a certain accumulated amount of heat to bloom to its maximum.

In isolation, near the house, you will be able to fully enjoy its generosity. It will also look good in a bush bed, a flowering hedge, or emerging from a mound of perennials. To form an original hedge, you can associate it with Altheas with an upright habit, such as the Hibiscus syriacus Speciosus, with its beautiful white flowering and green foliage that will both contrast with the attire of 'Midnight Magic'. The Weigela florida Magical Rainbow will extend the flowering period, with its beautiful pink trumpet flowers in May-June, while its green foliage edged with gold will contrast well with the dark purple of our Lagerstromia.

NB: Karl Von Linnaeus named this tree to pay tribute to his friend Magnus Von Lagestroem (1696 – 1759), who had sent it to him from India for identification. Originally, this tree was used to decorate Chinese temples. We would like to point out that this tree produces fruits that have a narcotic action in case of ingestion.