Lagerstroemia indica Summer Beauty Ozark Spring - Crape Myrtle

The Lagerstroemia 'Ozark Spring', like its brothers in the Summer Beauty series, is an early and floribundus variety of Indian Lilac, well suited to small spaces and container cultivation. Taller than it is wide and not very bulky, this small bush nevertheless flowers abundantly, from the beginning of July until September. It is adorned with numerous clusters of light lavender mauve flowers, very bright. It is also appreciated for its very decorative bark which detaches in coloured plaques, its beautiful autumn colours and resistance to powdery mildew.  Summer Lilacs love heat but appreciate a little coolness in summer to support their flowering. This one will make a sensation in a flowerbed or in a pretty pot on the terrace.

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Ozark Spring' (synonym Ozark Springs, Ozard Spring), obtained in the 1960s by Watts (USA), is part of a series of hybrids carefully selected for their compactness, precocity, floribundity, and their lower sensitivity to powdery mildew. 

'Ozark Spring' belongs to the Lythraceae family, like the Lagerstroemia indica, from which it is derived. Its habit is rather upright, its bushy crown is taller than it is wide. Of small size, it will reach about 1.50 m (4 ft 11 in) in height for 1.30 m (4 ft 4 in) at ripeness. Its growth is quite fast. It chooses the beginning of July (or even the end of June) to start its flowering, which will continue until September. The large inflorescences, in ramified clusters, are composed of very numerous small flowers carried by thin pedicels. Each flower has five very undulate petals, whose texture recalls that of crepe. They are gathered in dense panicles, at the end of the year's branches.

In 'Ozark Spring', the flower buds blossom widely into light lavender flowers that fade slightly over time, creating a subtle gradient of colours on the scale of the bush. The foliage, tough and deciduous, is born bronze in the spring, then becomes bright and shiny green. It is composed of ovate leaves, which take lovely yellow hues in the autumn, depending on the climate, before falling. Finally, its beautiful bark is decorative: smooth, beige, striate with grey, reddish-brown, peeling off in coloured plaques (cinnamon, faded red, old pink, cream).

Indian Lilacs traditionally prefer south-west facing gardens. This plant grows best in humid and hot climates. This is a small tree that, in its improved forms, deserves to be acclimatized in colder areas, providing the variety and location are carefully chosen. Its hardiness and vigour allow it, like the new varieties of the Summer Beauty series. This plant is best suited to isolation, near the house, from where you will be able to fully enjoy its generosity. It will look good in a low bush bed, or in a small mixed variety and colour flower hedge, or emerging from a mound of perennials. In autumn, it accompanies the the equally as colourful cotinus and deciduous euonymus. In a large pot on the terrace, it puts on a show as the summer flowers slow down.

NB: Karl Von Linnaeus named this tree to honour his friend Magnus Von Lagerstroem (1696 – 1759), who had sent it to him from India for identification. Originally, this tree was used to decorate Chinese temples. We would like to point out that this tree produces fruits that have a narcotic action if ingested.