Other Names:  Crape Myrtle, Crepe Myrtle

Description:

This beautiful, bushy, miniature crapemyrtle produces volumes of dark rose pink frilly blooms over deep green foliage; takes on yellow hues in fall; great focal point for a smaller area, or for container planting; good disease resistance

Ornamental Features

World's Fair Crapemyrtle is blanketed in stunning panicles of rose frilly flowers with pink overtones at the ends of the branches from early to late summer. It has attractive dark green deciduous foliage. The small glossy oval leaves are highly ornamental and turn outstanding shades of yellow, orange and red in the fall. The brick red stems can be quite attractive.

Landscape Attributes

World's Fair Crapemyrtle is a dense multi-stemmed deciduous shrub with a mounded form. Its relatively fine texture sets it apart from other landscape plants with less refined foliage.

This shrub will require occasional maintenance and upkeep. Trim off the flower heads after they fade and die to encourage more blooms late into the season. It has no significant negative characteristics.

World's Fair Crapemyrtle is recommended for the following landscape applications;

• Mass Planting
• Rock/Alpine Gardens
• General Garden Use
• Groundcover
• Container Planting

Planting & Growing

World's Fair Crapemyrtle will grow to be about 3 feet tall at maturity, with a spread of 3 feet. It tends to fill out right to the ground and therefore doesn't necessarily require facer plants in front. It grows at a medium rate, and under ideal conditions can be expected to live for approximately 20 years.

This shrub does best in full sun to partial shade. It prefers to grow in average to moist conditions, and shouldn't be allowed to dry out. To help this plant achive its best flowering performance, periodically apply a flower-boosting fertilizer from early spring through into the active growing season. It is very fussy about its soil conditions and must have rich, acidic soils to ensure success, and is subject to chlorosis (yellowing) of the foliage in alkaline soils. It is highly tolerant of urban pollution and will even thrive in inner city environments. This is a selected variety of a species not originally from North America.

World's Fair Crapemyrtle makes a fine choice for the outdoor landscape, but it is also well-suited for use in outdoor pots and containers. Because of its height, it is often used as a 'thriller' in the 'spiller-thriller-filler' container combination; plant it near the center of the pot, surrounded by smaller plants and those that spill over the edges. It is even sizeable enough that it can be grown alone in a suitable container. Note that when grown in a container, it may not perform exactly as indicated on the tag - this is to be expected. Also note that when growing plants in outdoor containers and baskets, they may require more frequent waterings than they would in the yard or garden.