crepe myrtle

Hi,

I have two crepe myrtles that planted last fall and they haven't bloomed yet. There are a lot of crepe myrtles in town, and they have been showing flowers for over a couple of weeks. My crepes myrtles looked healthy, as do the plants surrounding them.

What are the likely explanations for their lagging behind?

Thanks!

There are a lot of different clones of crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia spp.), and they have a range of bloom times as well as performance.

Have they formed flower buds at the terminals yet?

What variety/selection/clone do you have?

Show some pics, too.

I'd expect your young plants are establishing themselves in their new garden home, expending energy growing new roots possibly at the expense of flowering. Established plants around town are in sync with the growing season and their environment.

Or...they are just Lagerstroemia fauriei Spiteful™.

I suspect they're just taking their time getting their roots going--many shrubs/trees won't bloom the year following when you planted them since they're working on getting their roots going as VV explained. You might check though that they're getting enough sun, if they're in a shady area then I wouldn't expect them to bloom as well even once they're established so you might want to consider moving them, but if they've got enough sun and look healthy I suspect you just need to be patient and next year you should start to see some blooms.

Here're the pictures - sorry about the quality. I'm still struggling with these new autofocus cameras...

one more...

And one last one...

In your first picture, I can see a large tree that looks like it could make that area fairly shady--how many hours of sun does your crape myrtle get? And is it direct sun or is it just filtered/dappled light? I'm still not surprised it wouldn't bloom this year, but if there's too much shade then you may not get good blooms in future years either. I had one at my old house (planted by the previous owners) that was in a spot that got dappled AM sun but was shaded by a big tree, and at most I would get a few blooms on it.

It's a big plane approximately ten yards from the crepes. They get a lot of light, though, since there is a street right in front of them, opening them up to light from the early morning to the late afternoon.

Well, betulo, let's not keep that light under a bushel basket...

That's a serious sized shrub to have just been planted last fall, and expect to have no consequence to this season's performance. What is that, about an 8-10 footer?

In your third pic, there is just the beginning of new growth extension. There's where your flowering will occur on Lagerstroemia spp., so as that matures you should see the formation of flower buds there. If not - then no flowers this year.

I'd expect that those plants will need a couple to three years to recover their roots and return to the type of performance that an established plant would have.

OK... Can we safely say that the problem is half-solved? Is it the incredibly rainy summer that has delayed the blooming.

If it was the rainy summer, all crapemyrtles in town would be equally affected.

You just transplanted yours last fall, severely reducing their root systems and delaying new terminal growth where flowering occurs on new wood.

Asked and answered...and that's a nice bloom.

It is unbelievably beautiful... Some would even pick the word 'awesome'. Just wanted to share the picture.