Lagerstroemia Summer Charm Arapaho - Crape Myrtle

The Lagerstroemia indica x fauriei 'Arapaho' is another variety of Indian Lilac hybrid from the Summer Charm series, selected for its vigour, striking flowering and ease of cultivation. This one, being vigorous and of good stature, is adorned with frothy clusters of striking magenta-red, impressive in their intensity, on large leaves spared by powdery mildew. Summer Lilacs are also appreciated for their smooth bark, richly coloured, ornamental all year round, as well as their beautiful autumn colours. These bushes love heat but appreciate a bit of coolness in summer to support their flowering. This one will make a sensation on its own in a small garden or in a pretty pot on the terrace.

The Lagerstroemia 'Arapaho' is an excellent American variety dating from 1996. Resulting from a hybridization programme initiated in the 1980s, it carries the genes of the Lagerstroemia indica, the Indian Lilac native to China, the L. fauriei, native to Korea and Japan, and finally the L. limii, a very beautiful and large Chinese species with very large leaves taking on sumptuous colours in autumn and an abundance of large clusters of flowers throughout the summer.

'Arapaho', like all summer lilacs, belongs to the Lythraceae family. This small multi-trunk tree bears a rounded crown, slightly spread out. Of large size, it will reach in the ground approximately 6 m (19 ft 8 in) in height at ripeness, for a spread of 4.50 m (14 ft 10 in), in good conditions. In a container, it will maintain more modest dimensions, of the order of 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in height for 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in) in spread. Its growth is quite fast. It chooses the month 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 on thin pedicels. Each flower has five very undulate petals, the texture of which recalls that of crepe. They are gathered in large, dense panicles, at the end of the year's branches.

In 'Arapaho', the inflorescences, produced in abundance, measure up to 17 cm (6.7 in) long by 10 cm (3.9 in) wide. The violet flower buds bloom widely into flowers of a strong but very bright pink-red, a few golden stamens bringing a touch of light to the whole. The foliage, leathery and deciduous, is born bronze-reddish, then becomes dark green and shiny. It is composed of large ovate leaves, 6-7 cm (2.4-2.8 in) long and 3-4 cm (1.2-1.6 in) wide, which take on lovely coppery and red hues in the autumn, before falling. Finally, and to end on a high note, this plant's bark is very decorative, smooth, beige-brown washed with grey, reddish-brown, peeling off in coloured plates (cinnamon, faded red, old rose, cream).

Indian Lilacs traditionally make the glory of the gardens of the South-West. This summer lilac tree prefers humid and hot climates which, in its improved forms, deserves to be acclimatized to colder regions, providing careful choise is given to the variety and its location. Its hardiness and vigour allow it, like the varieties of the Summer Charm series. It is in isolation, near the house, that you will be able to fully enjoy this plant's generosity. It will make a good figure in a shrubbery or in a mixed flowering hedge, or emerging from a mound of perennials. In autumn, it accompanies the equally colourful smoke trees and deciduous spindle trees. In a pot on the terrace, it puts on a show as the summer flowers flag. 

NB: Karl Von Linnaeus named this tree to pay tribute to his friend Magnus Von Lagestroem (1696 – 1759), who 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.

About the cold resistance of Lagerstroemia: in 1955, Dr. John Creech of the American National Arboretum, accompanied by a team of botanists, discovered a new species endemic to the Japanese island of Yakushima, extremely hardy, resistant to cryptogamic diseases: the Lagerstroemia faurei. Hybridization with the L. indica, infinitely more ornamental but more delicate, gave birth to hybrids flowering generously under most of our climates, resistant to diseases and hardy down to -20 °C (-4 °F) (the stump resuming in spring). They are called the Lagerstroemia x egolfii.