Crepe Myrtles Everywhere!

Tuesday, June 24, 2008

Everywhere you go there are gorgeous thriving Crepe Myrtles of every color that is available. They are such a welcome part of summer here! Their fantastic, billowy blooms are enough to make anyone want to smile!

This is a closeup of Carolina Beauty

We have been having a lot of rain and thunderstorms which have kept us out of the garden somewhat the past week or two. We also had some sad events take place in the past two weeks~but I am back to my garden blog, ready to seek the beauty in the world again instead to try to divert the sorrow. The most we've done in the garden the past two weeks is water (the couple days it didn't rain), fertilize, weed & Superthrive. We did go out to the wholesale nursery last week to get some Crepe Myrtles. We already had 5 of them but I wanted to see all of them while they are blooming so I could pick my most favorite ones and one for a prominent place in the front yard. This was really hard to do because they are all so beautiful! Alot of the colors are very close but just different enough that they have their own appeal and of course different growth habits. We came home with a 15 gallon Carolina Beauty which is for that prominent spot in the front yard. We also got a 3 Gallon Cinnamon Ruffle, 3 Gallon Burgundy Cotton, 3 Gallon Dynamite and a 1 Gallon Zuni. The Zuni we purchased as a gift for a friend. (I hope she doesn't see this before I give it to her! LOL!)The Burgundy Cotton was really my first choice for the front yard. I love this one so much. The problem is, it doesn't get tall enough for what we wanted out front. The Dynamite we already planted in memory of Eddie. Eddie was the 26 yr old (kind of x) boyfriend of my niece. He was killed in a car crash on June 12th. We bought and planted this Dynamite Crepe Myrtle in our front perennial bed in memory of Eddie on June 19th, which was the day of his funeral. It will forever be dubbed our "Eddie Tree", in memory of a life cut way too short. Sadly a friend of ours had a fullterm stillborn baby last week. We will be planting something in her memory in our Babies Memorial Garden. We haven't decided what we will plant for her yet. I want to give it more thought. We did get the 15 gal Carolina Beauty planted out front. The other's will have to wait a couple more days.

This is Bruce planting the Carolina Beauty

It will grow 20'

This is the Burgundy Cotton which will grow to about 12-15'

Closeup of the Burgundy Cotton

Dynamite Crepe Myrtle will grow to 20-25'

"Eddie's Tree"

This is a closeup of "Eddie's Tree"

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This is Eddie's tree where it is planted.

This is Cinnamon Ruffle~will grow 6-10'

Closeup of Cinnamon Ruffle

This is the little Zuni~will grow 9-12'

We already have a Near East & a Sioux Crepe Myrtle (both light pinks) in the Babies Garden. They are blooming right now. The Sioux just started today! Out front in our side yard we have a Natchez that is blooming and two Tuscarora's that are not blooming yet. I love Crepe Myrtles. I wish we had room to have one of every variety and color! Later in the week I will get some pictures of our existing Crepe Myrtles that are blooming. Have fun playing in the dirt!