Lagerstroemia indica Mon Panache - Crape Myrtle

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Mon Panache' is an Indian lilac with a semi-prostrate, trailing habit, and a beautiful summer flowering of intense magenta to deep purple. Its well-distributed thyrsus are punctate with bright golden stamens. Its flowering usually begins towards the end of July, and continues until August. This adorable deciduous bush charms with its flexible and graceful appearance, its shining green leaves that colour in autumn, and its decorative bark. Sun and heat lovers, resistant and endowed with multiple assets, Indian lilacs are among the most beautiful flowering bushes in summer. They deserve a special place in the garden or on the terrace.

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Mon Panache' belongs to the Lythraceae family. The Lagerstroemia indica, from which it originates, is native to China. ‘Mon Panache’ is a cultivar selected in 1982 at the Demartis nursery, near Bergerac. This bush has a characteristic semi-prostrate habit. It will reach between 3 and 5 m (9 ft 10 in and 16 ft 5 in) in height at ripeness, with a diameter of about 3 m (9 ft 10 in). Its growth is quite rapid. Its flowering, early, usually begins at the end of July and lasts until August. The flowers are characterised by thin pedicels each carrying five petals with an undulate edge that make up this flower. The flowers, whose texture is reminiscent of crepe, are gathered in large dense panicles, at the ends of the year's branches. The reddish-brown buds on 'Mon Panache' blossom into flowers of a bright magenta to pink red, punctate with golden stamens. The foliage, tough and deciduous, is dark green and shiny. It is composed of small ovate leaves, which sometimes take on lovely yellow or red hues in autumn, depending on the climate. Finally, and to end on a beautiful note, its bark is of all beauty, smooth, beige striate with brown-red, flaking in coloured plates (cinnamon, faded red, old rose, cream).

Indian Lilacs are the glory of gardens, preferring wet and warm climates to dry and windy climates. it is a small tree that deserves to be acclimatised in the colder areas, providing its location is carefully selected. Its hardiness and vigour allow it. It is when isolated, near the house, that you can fully enjoy its generosity. It will look good in a bush bed, a flowering hedge, or emerging from a mound of perennials. Compose a bed like a bouquet, with Campanula pyramidalis, Salvia sclarea, Aster laevis. In autumn, it accompanies the aster, as colourful as itself. In a large pot on the terrace, it puts on a show when the summer flowerings are on the wane. We simply imagined a tricolour vegetal tapetum as a ground cover to highlight the Summer Lilac ‘Mon Panache’. A weaving of thymes, oreganos and silver baskets will dress the base of its trunk, underline its bark and reflect its sparkling flowering.

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 if ingested.