Different variant of Crape Myrle from seed

here is a view of it in close to full bloom

The smaller low growers can be trained as bonsai. I am thinking of doing one as an over the cliff with it spilling out like a waterfall. Very cool.

Dave, mine looks like your one on the top picture only mine has rounder leaves. Looks like the same type of blooms tho. Mine is Little Chief.

That is why I said Bonsai on mine too. It looks like a natural.

Yeperz its a quick easy one just have to keep it fertilized and watered

Dave that is a very beautiful plant well groomed. Mine never looks well groomed, come to think of it neither do I. Bothus are little crispy around the edges.

The pic is a couple of years old and I need to clean him up. I have been so busy with our remodel I have had to just coast on my plants. but it looks like next week I will be back in the thick of it.

I am going to start up my cuttings, I have so many things to cut its not funny. I guess its better to be over whelmed than to be twiddleing my thumbs.

I am going to dmail you wildcat

Well, now this is really embarrassing, but the other day near dusk I was out w/the camera, and I took some quick adhoc pics of the crepe myrtle. The pics are awful, and they show that the house needs a good power wash, but if I wait until I get out the backup drive to find the better pics, you'll probably never get to see the tree, so here goes.

In these pics you can see how the tree has a distinct vase shape with branches arching out and over. However, the blooms are now gone. The weight of the large blooms tends to pull the branches down much lower. When the blooms are loaded with dew or rain water, they droop to w/in a few feet of the ground. I'll have to get a pic of that look next year when it blooms again.

As previously stated, this crepe myrtle was here when I bought the house, so I have no idea the name/cultivar. If anyone has any ideas (based on the color of the few small blooms maybe), I'd love to hear them.

(In my defense, the humidity here on the east coast is off the charts. This is the back of the house. It's the north side of the house so it's bathed in humidity night and day and doused by the sprinklers daily but receives no direct sunlight. As a result, it's the perfect spot for mold and mildew to grow. I usually have it power washed annually, but this year I'm unemployed, er, I mean on extended vacation.)

Here is one more showing a close up of a branch from the tree.

Dream I own a power washer but it won't start. It needs a carburetor rebuild I believe. I understand northside mold. Your crape looks pretty tall I can envision the branches drooping with a lot of bueatiful blooms. A little rain really makes them droop even more I would guess. I understand the concept of extended vacations The last ten years have been tough. I had too many unscheduled vacations. I gave up looking and starting growing plants to keep my sanity.

I have decided this winter I will only germante seeds that are from my two new ground hugger white and purple varitities. I hope to get some interesting results. Hopefully a varitity of colors with growth habit of the white. The purple ground hugger isn't old enough to decide what the growth habit will be. Still too small I believe.

The original white one got a little wider than a yard stick and 6 1/2 to 7 inches tall this past summer. A few less 106 degree days would have added some growth. It was hard to keep all my 120+ pots of plants from wilting this past summer. Not all are CMs, but a majority are.

Sometime this fall I plan to put the big white in a large clay pot.

I am thinking about building a soil mound to plant the smaller white. I have never built a mound for a plant, any suggestions?

I currently have 41 CMs in the ground, most of them are young and small. I am shooting for 100. I have the CMs and the space, I just need stronger legs and shoulders to dig the big wide ugly holes faster. If I do 10 a week I could be done sometime in November.

lol I think we all need to be shorter and closer to the ground. I have seen the mound planting and I don't really know a lot about it. I would think a mound would be exposed to the cold spells but just how cold does it get there? i wouldn't try it here as we have some nasty cold spells and they can be frozen to the ground here. I had some of that last year.
its good to pace yourself. I have way too much to do and not enough energy to do it.
Have a great day
Dave

Dave I don't see why planting in a mound would hurt them any more harm than them setting out all winter in 1 and 2 gal pots exposed to the elements. The last two winters I have left seedlings out all winter in containers as small as 16oz styrofoam cups with the damage being slight. I blamed problems on not being watered enough, the problems seemed to be dry pots. Last winter the only moisture the only moisture they recieved was rain and a small amout of sleet and snow. Are low temps generally around 18/20 degrees. Very seldom do we experience long periods of freezing temps. Of course most of my plant knowledge came from the internet after the age of 60. Since then I have been using the method, if you need one, try to grow 10 then you may get one.

The worst plant lost I had was 2 Novembers ago I planted 24 CMs. 20 of them were clipped off at he ground. At first look it look as if someone had taken loppers and whacked them off. A closer look revealed very small teeth marks almost smooth on the finger size stumps. Some of the CMs were waist high. CMs weren't the only new plantings that were chewed on and down. Plants in pots were also bitten off. I will poop my pants if that happens this winter. Most CMs came back to grow again some didn't. None are as big as they were when planted yet.

Larry:
I do not feel its a bad thing I just have no experience with it. Its quite common for mice and rats to invade plants in the winter.I have 2 cats that roam the yard so i don't set out any bait for rodents. mostly because I don't want them getting ahold of a poisoned critter and die.
did they all come back? your system obviously worked. what was the source of your initial seeds? I planted a few seeds last year and i have a pot full of seedlings i need to seperate. they all apear to be upright.
can you take pics of your mounding process for me? I know its becoming a common practice but like I said I have no experience at it. I tend to form a little dam around my plants to retain moisture in a little lake when I water them.
how many seeds are you going to do this winter?
Have a great day
Dave

Dave
I lost about 7 CMs as I remember. I don't poison anything except fire ants.

I never noticed the two groundhuggers when they sprouted or soon there after. I think the new seedlings look just like the rest of them. They grow normal for a litle bit. Cuttings immediately start the downward/horizontal growth when rooted.

The source of the original seeds was from my own CMs that I have had for 15 to 20 years. I transplanted 6 CMs from their previous home. My big white has had 4 homes. It got passed around early in its life. From Honey Grove to Kennedale, then next door to my back yard, then to Trenton.

The number seeds I do depends on when I get tired of potting them. I assume I will do at least 100. I will kill some, some will expire, I would like to end up with about 100 live ones. The first year I potted close to 200, high casualty rate that first year. That would be way too many for me to do this year.

I plan to only sprout seeds that are from my ground huggers.

I think the mound building will have to wait till spring.

I like my dams.


Larry

Did you get your package?

Dave I just sent you a dmail.

Larry, I just looked and its not there. nothing new i get lots of lost things.
Dave

Dave I just looked in my mailbox and it was sent at 9:27AM this morning. Dave don't worry, I have those spells every day.

My original baby now has a 24 inch pot to grow in. Just starting to leaf out. Hopefully I don't let her get to dry this summer.
I may be obsessed.

Baby number 2 now has a home in the ground.

I believe this guy is about 3 years old. It is in a 4 inch pot. A little guy so far.

The other profile.

My other news is that I feel better than I have in years.

Hey you:
I am so glad to hear you are doing well. I was so concerned because of the last report from you. I am still trying to get my stamenae back up. Things are going well. I will check my babies and let you know how they are doing. i love the weather we are getting now.
here is a pic of some roots from one of my Hostas. i buy in tissue cultured plugs and grow them up. its a 2nd year plant.
Dave

I am back, finally paid the bill. About 6 months ago my primary doctor tried to put me on a high dollar cholesterol medicine, I said let me tried and change to a stricter low fat diet. He did not believe I could change my spots again. I succeeded with great praise from from my cardiologist and an amazed the primary about how low the bad cholesterol hot gone down the the good cholesterol went up and my weight down by 12 pounds. Great!!!

Now the unexpected happens, my blood pressure gets so low I faint. I have two more concussions to add to my list, now 7 like any good NFL Quarterback. This last time I fell it was face first into a concrete stepping stone, fractured my nasal parts, eight stitches in my chin and tore my upper lip so bad I need plastic surgery.

I hope the summer continues.

My face hurts, my neck real bad at times. I almost forgot I broke off my front teeth and I now have some cracking in my jaw every time I bite down. I did stop taking metoprolol and my pressure still a little on the low side.

I have to stop whining my neck is decided to spasm.

I will take all the "poor baby boy" I can get.

Aaaaaawwwwwwww.

I can't begin to compete. I had to have an adult tooth extracted last week; a first for me. The dentist said everything else looks good. I suppose he meant as long as I didn't faint face-first on to concrete. Yiikes.

I'm still limping due to problems with left knee and right foot but, all in all, life is good.

Good work on the cholesterol.

You should probably get a pool and float the summer away.

kb

Starting to bloom. I have the pretty little girl in the hole to protect her from the 104 degree wind.

This message was edited Jun 26, 2011 6:50 PM

WcThicket,
Looking at your Mar. 24th pic of baby #2 in the ground reminded me to suggest that you can put several of the droopiest limbs slightly under ground and put a rock (or other weight) on top then water more than normally needed. That will make them root with essentially no fear of loss of a scarce cutting. Pughbear7, please comment - is this a good, workable idea for this situation in hot, dry TX?


Paul

Paul Thanks for the suggestion. Looking at the plant baby #2 it looks like I have been cutting on this plant but I haven't. The ends of the branches that look like they have been cut, they haven't. That was done by one of my local rodents, rabbits or squirrel. Armadillo? In the winter some animal have chewed off branches of dozens and sometimes clear to the ground and carry off the cuttings.

I have several small ones in the ground and they are hugging the ground. I have at least 50 of my own seedlings in the ground, mostly all miniatures, quite a few are groundhuggers. I still have 40 +/- two year olds still in 16 oz styro cups. If I can stay well long enough I will get caught up.

I think if you weight them down they should root where they touch the soil. you might lightly scatch the limb to expose some underpart of the limb and add some rooting hormone to hasten the rooting. sounds like a good experiment. do one of each and see how they come along.
Larry I noticed a few of my seedlings turned into carolina jasmine. either the birds planted seeds or something wierd happened. I hope to look at them closer tomorrow but who knows with this heat.
Quit falling down. I know its not fun. I find myself catching different objects to stay on my feet. is just getting old or some kind of mean trick mother nature is playing?
Stay kool
Dave

Stay cool? I wish. I get out at about 6:30 am and do what I do. By 11:30 I can't stand it no more. I go to my barn office, turn on the air and drink lemonade. I now have it figured out when I am going to faint. When I get that feeling I get on my love seat or just go to the ground. Banging head on objects has caused the need for 10 stitches this year.

Larry quit that. falling is no fun. I have started standing up at night and forgetting what Im doing and the next thing I know I am on the ground. must be on the verge of sleep and feel like I need to do something and quit midstream. getting old is not for sissies

I don't know if I am a sissy, but I do know I must like being cut on. I will have my ninth surgery since May '09 the 17th of Aug on my left wrist. I don't even want to think about what the urologist will find next Wednesday when he hurts me. It has been two years since my last cancerous bladder tumor removed. I have been on an every two year tumor appearance. I am looking for 10th time to go sleepy time by the end of the year.

Getting old is a real dirty word some days,

Meanwhile I have a bunch of minis(around 70+/--) flat and otherwise doing great even on this constant 100+ heat.

About ten years ago I went through a series of about six surgeries in a year. I was very lucky that that they were all minor, as surgeries go, but I was wiped out for months. I also tripped over a dog who was in an unexpected place on a dark night and went splat on a concrete floor. Was lucky to smash my knees and not my face. I have night lights now.

Both of you, please take care of yourselves. Falling is not acceptable.

hugs, katie

Second generation of my ground huggers. Seeds from original ground hugger.

Beautiful. You must be so pleased. kb

Thanks Katie. I am lucky the new seeds are making more ground cover crapes. I have a pink one that is from 2 years ago that the sun fried, or should I say I sat in the wrong place. It is going to have smaller leaves, just smaller over it appears at this time. As soon as gets presentable I will post a picture.

I finally a moved my baby to the shade between the crapes. I has been looking a lot better in mostly shade than is was mostly 100+ degree sun.

Still blooming.

Larry those are great plants. I was wondering just how old the oldest one is and if it got any height to it to become a weeper? I bought a sacramento crepe from a local grower its suposed to be a weeping crepe of about 24" we will see how tall it gets. I have started moving my crepes in pots in the greenhouse for the winter months because my pride and joy was frozen to the ground one year. I knew it was a risk but never dreamed it would happen.
I just planted more seeds you sent me a while ago. I hope they grow I know its a bit late but I thought I better get them sown before they end up waiting another winter. I just hope they don't turn into jasmine vines like a group did on me last spring. They only thing i can think of is they were close to the vine and seeds fell into the pots. I promise I did not cast a spell on them.... :)
I look forward to the pics.
Hi Katie