Thursday 5 January 2012

MELBOURNE STREET TREES 3

Crepe myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica) are among the world's best flowering trees. They are native to eastern Asia and are hardy in most parts of Australia. They are deciduous, vase-shaped trees about 6-8m (18-25') tall. The tree is often severely pruned and grown as a shrub 3-4m (10-12') tall. Trusses of white, pink, mauve or purple blooms appear in late summer. The petals are ruffled, with a crepe-like texture. In autumn the mid-green leaves turn yellow, orange or red (depending on the variety) before falling. Unpruned crepe myrtles develop beautifully coloured, smooth, mottled trunks. There is an Australian native crepe myrtle (Lagerstroemia archeriana), which grows to around 7m (20') tall and has pinkish mauve flowers.

The Indian Summer Crepe Myrtle range (Lagerstroemia indica x L. fauriei) which is widely planted in Melbourne as a street tree, has been specially bred to resist powdery mildew, a fungal disease that can be seen on some older crepe myrtle varieties. Each cultivar is named after an American Indian tribe, and they range in size from around 3-6m (10-18) fully grown. Illustrated here is the variety "Tonto".

This post is part of the Floral Friday Fotos meme.



7 comments:

  1. Nice photo, I like light, delicious colors and an excellent approach with beautiful detail of these flowers.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Brilliant colour Nick and I can imagine streets lined with these trees in bloom would look quite spectacular!

    ReplyDelete
  3. What a gorgeous splash of color they provide!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Gorgeous flowers, breathtaking colors and superb captures! Hope your week is going well, Nick!

    Sylvia

    ReplyDelete
  5. i love the crape myrtles! amazing how they can put up with such summer heat and just bloom away! ours really suffered this year with the drought, but managed to hang on!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Adore crepe myrtles! They produce such beautiful, tiny ruffled blossoms! My dad loved his garden and planted 3 colours of the blossoms - palest lilac, pale pink and the colour in your photos! Especially love the macro photo above showing the depth of the ruffles!

    ReplyDelete

Feel free to comment, I'd really like to hear from you!
Please do not use this comment box to advertise your goods and services!