Lagerstroemia indica Summer Beauty Hope - Crape Myrtle

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Hope' is a variety of Indian Lilac from the Summer Beauty series, gathering small development bushes with generous flowering, perfect in massif or in pot to decorate terraces and balconies. This one carries foamy clusters of a really charming light pink from the month of July. Summer Lilacs are also appreciated for their smooth bark, rich colourings, beautiful autumn colours and being ornamental all year round. These bushes like heat but appreciate a little freshness in summer to support their flowering. This one will make a sensation isolated in a small garden or in a pretty pot on the terrace.

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Hope', obtained in 1963 by Watts (USA), is part of a series of hybrids carefully selected for their compactness, precocity, floribundus, and their lesser sensitivity to Oïdium. This quite old American variety is still little diffused in the French horticultural trade.

'Hope' belongs to the Lythraceae family, like the Lagerstroemia indica, from which it is derived. Small in size, it will reach about 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in) in all directions at ripeness. Its growth is quite rapid. It chooses the beginning of July to start its flowering, which will continue until September. The large inflorescences, in ramified clusters, are composed of very numerous small flowers carried by thin pedicels. Each flower has five very undulate-edged petals, the texture of which recalls that of crepe. They are gathered in large, dense panicles, at the end of that year's branches.

In 'Hope', the floral buds bloom widely in pale pink flowers that slightly whiten over time, creating a subtle gradient of colours on the scale of the bush. The foliage, leathery and deciduous, is born bronze in spring, then becomes a bright and shiny green. It is composed of ovate leaves, which take lovely orange or coppery hues in the autumn, depending on the climate, before falling. Finally, to end in beauty, its bark is decorative: smooth, beige striate with grey, brown-red, peeling in coloured plaques (cinnamon, faded red, old pink, cream).

Indian Lilacs traditionally make the glory of the gardens of the South West. Preferring the humid and hot climates, this is a small tree that, in its improved forms, deserves to be acclimatised to colder areas, carefully choosing the variety and its location. Its hardiness and vigour allow it, like the new varieties of the Summer Beauty series. When positioned in an isolated location, near the house, you will be able to fully enjoy this plant's generosity. It will look good in a low bush massif, or in a small mixed variety and colour flower hedge, or emerging from a mound of perennials. In the autumn, it accompanies the equally colourful cotinus and the deciduous spindle trees, as colourful. In a large pot on the terrace, it puts on a show as the summer flowering slows down. 

NB: Karl Von Linnaeus named this tree to honour 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.