Deservedly 1 of the most preferred shrubs in America. In the South, it normally takes the position of the lilac of the North but is significantly extra attractive …
Gilbert Onderdonk’s 1898–99
Mission Valley Nurseries catalogue, Nursery, Texas
Each individual self-respecting gardener is aware of that you develop lilacs in the North and crapemyrtles in the South. Even New York’s Liberty Hyde Bailey knew this. In his 1917 Common Cyclopedia of Horticulture he mentioned that “The crapemyrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, is to the South what the lilac and the snowball are to the North — an inhabitant of just about just about every home lawn.”
The crapemyrtle received its frequent identify for its superficial resemblance (although no relation) to the legitimate myrtle (Myrtus) and for its crape-like bouquets. The Latin name of the genus, Lagerstroemia, was provided to the tree in 1759 by the Swedish botanist Linnaeus, in honor of his close friend Magnus von Lagerstroem (1696–1759), Director of the Swedish East Indies Business and an avid naturalist.
There are about 55 species of Lagerstroemia, all native to Asia and the Pacific Islands. Of all of these, only a few are cold-hardy by way of most of the South, L. indica, L. fauriei, and L. subcostata, withL. indica, from China the only 1 popular in Southern gardens. It is possible the most well-liked modest flowering tree in the total South. It has been cultivated in its native Southeast Asia for 1000’s of years. Our crapemyrtle was supposedly launched to the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew, England in 1759.
Its precise day of introduction into the United States is not known. Credit history is generally offered to Andre Michaux, who established a nursery around Charleston, South Carolina, around 1786. Seemingly George Washington was one of the 1st to endeavor to mature crapemyrtles. Documents at Mount Vernon display that a ship arrived in Philadelphia in April 1799 carrying two plants and seed of L. reginae, as nicely as seeds of L. indica. Bernard M’Mahon talked about L. indica in The American Gardener’s Calendar in 1806. Crapemyrtle was listed among the plants…