Hybridized at The US National Arboretum in 1964 by crossing L. fauriei with L. indica 'Pink Lace' in an attempt to develop a variety resistant to powdery mildew. The result was L. "Natchez," which is called the queen of crepe myrtles. It was officially named & released in 1978.

The bark exfoliates & reveals a dark cinnamon brown trunk, which is striking especially in winter when the plant is bare of leaves.

Most often seen with multiple stems, but it can be pruned to present a single trunked specimen tree.

Please do not habitually prune crepe myrtles as so many articles say to do. This weakens the plant & shortens its life. If you let it reach its full potential; you will be rewarded with a beauty much greater than you ever imagined.

Hardwood cuttings can be rooted in cold frames in late fall & early winter.

This plant exhibits a natural vase shape.

The fruit is a dark brown, woody capsule, which stays on the tree late into winter.

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After lots and lots of reading about different kinds of trees, this is the one I chose to be the primary shade tree in our smallish front yard when our too-big ash died.

It's quick-growing (up to 4' per year), long-lived (can live over 100 years if not hit by a serious drought), and never gets too big for a smallish lot (max height 25-40 feet). Not a lot of trees share all of those features!

Also, it tolerates clay soil and moderate drought. It's not supposed to like poorly drained soil, but I placed a rain garden 3 feet from one in the backyard, and it's thriving in spite of the fact that the top inch or so of soil regularly gets anaerobic (PU!). I hear it wouldn't be a good choice for next to a permanent pond.

Will grow in part shade or full sun, so the backyard one was planted under the drip line of the backyard ash, just in case something happened to that ash.

A relative transplanted some big, 15-feet tall trees after digging up only about a cubic foot of root ball, and they bounced back just fine, so it's pretty tough.

The big clusters of white flowers bloom all summer long, when lots of other plants are sulking from the heat. Very showy but not gaudy, and easy to fit into any garden color scheme. No fragrance, unfortunately.

If I have any complaints, it's that this deciduous tree doesn't leaf out until April, which is pretty late for the subtropics. I always spend March wondering if somehow it died this year when it's the only brown stick in a sea of green.

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