Growing the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle

Size and Appearance

The Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle is a deciduous shrub that forms a low, dense bush just 3 to 4 feet tall and wide. Many branches fill it to the ground, and the glossy leaves keep it beautiful from the moment they appear in spring to the time in fall when they turn orange and yellow. They are only 1½ inches long and an inch wide, with a leathery texture and a smooth, glossy surface that stays healthy all summer, thanks to its resistance to powdery mildew. Every new stem that sprouts in spring soon develops a flower cluster at the end. A 3-inch ball of about 20 buds, each one lasts around 2 weeks, beginning in June. The ruffled flowers have the look of crepe paper, and they are a rich, bright strawberry red. As soon as a cluster fades new stems sprout just below it, producing more flower heads, and this continues well into September. Almost no other shrub delivers so much bloom, for so little effort. Seed pods don’t form, so no need to deadhead – a real bonus.

Using the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle in Your Garden

The strong coloring of the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle cries out to be made into a striking combination – why not front it with catmint, renowned for its silver leaves and blue flowers? A killer combination if ever there was one. Or plant it in front of a panicle hydrangea variety, for a cool strawberries and cream look. Use this compact bush in flower beds, or tuck it between the evergreens around your home. Grow it as an edging on a path or driveway, or around a patio. It is perfect in planter boxes too, and can be left out all winter from zone 8.

Hardiness

Completely hardy in zones 7 to 10, the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle will also grow in zone 6, with some winter damage to the stems. It will still bloom prolifically, though, just grow a little smaller. Mulch with bark or straw to help its survival. If you are growing it in a pot in zone 6, or even in zone 5, then place the pot in a cold shed or unheated garage for the winter months. Light isn’t needed, and it can take temperatures down to freezing.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Full sun is needed to get the best from the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle, as even a little shade reduces flowering noticeably. It grows well in poor soils, and is happy in urban gardens. Established plants are drought resistant, but an occasional deep soaking will work wonders, and encourage continuous blooming.

Maintenance and Pruning

Deer don’t bother the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle, and it is generally free of pests. It has good resistance to powdery mildew, and stays fresh and clean through the hottest and most humid summers. Deadheading is optional, which is great if you are a busy person, with limited time to garden. Feed in spring, and through summer for plants in containers – you will really see the benefit and it only takes moments. In spring, trim back the branches from the previous year, and take out any weak or damaged stems. That’s all it takes to enjoy this great bush for another year.

History and Origin of the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle

Mike Farrow is a professional plant breeder and a graduate of the University of Maryland. He operates out of Earleville, Maryland, and some years back he decided to focus on a range of compact, ever-blooming, dwarf crape myrtles. a popular variety in the south, forming a large bush with purple blooms, that was discovered in Texas in 1957. The next year the seedlings he raised began to bloom, and he picked out one that was dwarf growing, with amazing deep-pink blooms. After further trials and testing he named it ‘Strawconbel’, and received a patent in 2021. He already had several plants in his Bellini® series of dwarf crape myrtles, and this one became the color Strawberry in that range. All these plants are made available under the Star® Roses and Plants brand of The Conard Pyle Company, West Grove, Pennsylvania.

Buying the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle at the Tree Center

We know how much you will love the Bellini Strawberry Crape Myrtle when it blooms in your garden (and blooms, and blooms. . .). Make your beds into a summer cocktail with this terrific new bush that is so versatile it can be grown almost anywhere. Order now – we have limited stock and new varieties always sell out fast.

Growing the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle

Size and Appearance

The Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle is a deciduous bush with a dense, shrubby form, with many branches growing from the ground. It rapidly forms a bush between 3 and 4 feet tall and about the same size across, with leaves to the ground. Every stem carries big clusters of blooms, and is covered along its length with closely-packed oval leaves. These are mid-green, leather, glossy and smooth, turning yellows and oranges when fall comes. They are small, in scale with the bush, and not much more than 1-inch long and ½ inch wide. In spring new shoots grow from all the branches, and each one produces a big cluster of blooms that lasts about 2 weeks. The flowers have hardly faded before new stems push out just below them, and those are soon in bloom. This way blooming continues from early summer right into fall. No seed pods are produced, so blooms just keep on coming. The ruffled flowers have the texture of crepe paper, and they are a delicious bright, light pink – perfect anywhere in your garden. You won’t believe the color boost even one bush will bring to your summer.

Using the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle in Your Garden

The neat, compact size of the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle makes it a perfect fit in a smaller garden, or in more intimate parts of a larger one. Plant it in beds close to the front, or along a low fence. Use it as an accent or to line a pathway. Grow it in planter boxes or beside your terrace – the options are never-ending. From zone 8 it is perfect in planter boxes, and even in colder zones potted plants can be kept in a cold shed in winter – they don’t need light.

Hardiness

In zones 7 to 10 the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle will thrive, and it enjoys the southern sun, heat and humidity. It grows in zone 6 too, where it may suffer some winter injury, but come bouncing back in spring, blooming just as prolifically, and growing just 2 or 3 feet tall in the season. In zone 6 a mulch of bark or straw around the base is a good idea. Pull the mulch back in spring, and wait until new growth sprouts before removing any winter-killed branches. Plants in pots and boxes can be left outdoors all winter in zones 8, 9 and 10. In colder zones you can store them for winter in a cold garage or shed. They don’t need light, but it must be cold – around freezing, but not much colder.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Grow the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle in full sun. Even a little shade reduces flowering significantly. Any well-drained soil will support it, even poor soils such as we find in many urban gardens. Once well-established it is drought resistant, but a deep soak from time to time during the heat of summer will keep it blooming like crazy.

Maintenance and Pruning

Pest problems are few or absent with the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle, and it doesn’t become dusty and gray with powdery mildew in summer. It also isn’t bothered by deer. It doesn’t set seed either, so deadheading just became optional – a great saving on your busy schedule. Some spring fertilizer for garden plants, and regular liquid feeding for plants in containers will keep your bush growing well. A trim in spring, shortening back branches of the previous year, is all the attention it needs. Never trim new growth – that will reduce or eliminate flowering.

History and Origin of the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle

The original crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, has been grown in America for a very long time, but most older varieties are tree-like, needing hard pruning each year to keep them as bushes. An old variety, popular in the south for many years, is ‘Twilight’, a tall, tree-like plant with purple blooms. In 2015 Mike Farrow, a specialist breeder who graduated from the University of Maryland before setting up his own business in Earleville, Maryland, collected seeds from a bush of ‘Twilight’. This is an older variety with purple flowers discovered in Texas in 1957. He grew a big batch of seedlings and studied them carefully. One stood out, with a rounded, dwarf habit and glorious pink blooms. He named it `Bellaggua`, and in 2021 was granted a patent on his invention. He added it to other dwarf varieties he had created, and through Star® Roses and Plants it became the color Guava in his Bellini® series of dwarf crape myrtles.

Buying the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle at the Tree Center

Every garden, big or small, can be a home for the Bellini Guava Crape Myrtle. The product of skilled American plant breeding, it’s the missing ingredient in your garden cocktail. Fill that gap and order now – these great compact bushes can’t wait to get out and grow for our clients, so don’t hesitate or it could be too late.

Growing the Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle

Size and Appearance

The Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle is a small deciduous tree of fast growth, reaching 15 to 20 feet tall, with a similar spread, within 10 years. It has a handsome trunk, with pale gray bark that sheds in strips, revealing creamy tan bark underneath, creating fascinating mottled patterns. With a little attention when young it will have a single trunk, or it can be grown into a more casual form with two or three main stems. The leaves are thick and leathery, glossy and deep green, between 2 and 3 inches long. Older varieties of crape myrtle have a bad name for the unsightly powdery mildew that often develops in the summer. This makes the leaves dusty and gray. Newer varieties, including the Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle, are resistant to this disease, so your tree remains fresh and green all summer long. This variety doesn’t produce suckers, so the stems remain clean and smooth, emphasizing the tree form.

Starting in late June or July, and continuing all the way through October, your tree will be covered in a profusion of blooms. Every branch carries hundreds, and the tree is a continuous blaze of color. The flowers are beautiful, with wrinkled petals that indeed do seem to be made of crepe paper, carried in large, foot-long clusters. These are strong, and don’t bend or collapse, even in heavy rainstorms, The color of the flowers is deep rose-pink to rich red, depending on temperature. Cooler weather makes them pinker, and hotter weather turns them redder. Flowers fall cleanly, and without first turning dark and unsightly, as other varieties can do. Then in fall the leaves turn gorgeous tones of deep reds and bright oranges, making a spectacular ending to the garden season.

Using the Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle in Your Garden

Wherever you need a small tree, be it on a lawn, beside your home, at the back of a shrub bed, or along a fence, the Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle is perfect. It is tall enough to have shrubs underneath, or to leave a clear area of lawn for children or barbecues, but big enough to make a bold impact and beautify your garden. Plant alone or in groups of three, or in a row for summer screening. For group and row planting, space plants 6 to 10 feet apart, depending on the density you want.

Hardiness

The Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle can be grown from zone 7 through all the hottest parts of the country. It can also be grown in zone 6, but it will die back to an extent in winter. That doesn’t affect flowering at all, but it will remain just a medium to large shrub, perhaps 6 feet tall.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Like all crape myrtles, this tree needs full sun to bloom profusely. Even a little shade has a big impact on the quantity and continuity of blooming. It grows well in any well-drained soil, including poorer and drier soils, but very dry conditions for long periods can reduce flowering and re-blooming.

Maintenance and Pruning

Free of powdery mildew, and rarely troubled by pests, the Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle is very easy to grow, and very vigorous. Decide how many main trunks you want while it is still young, and prune as necessary to create that. A light trim in late winter or early spring can be given, if you wish, to keep the crown neater and more rounded. Spring pruning has no impact on flowering, but never trim new, leafy shoots, as this will seriously reduce blooming.

History and Origin of the Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle

The crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, was first seen in America around 1790, in Charleston, South Carolina. It had been brought there by the French explorer and royal botanist André Michaux around 1786, from India. This was just a few years after Charleston fell to the revolutionary army after a bloody siege. This new tree caused a sensation, and became a big hit in the South. It flowered so much better than it had in Europe, where the summers are generally too cold and wet. Since then many new varieties have been created, and the variety called ‘Centennial Spirit’ began its life in 1981, as a seedling at the Oklahoma Agriculture Experiment Station, part of Oklahoma State University. There Dr Carl Whitcomb had been experimenting with a chemical called ethyl methanesulfonate (EMS), which causes mutations in seeds soaked in it. One of the resulting seedlings was one parent of a new variety he patented, without naming it, in 1985 (PP# 6,383). It is one of many wonderful crape myrtles Dr Whitcomb has created. It was named ‘Centennial Spirit’ in 1990 to celebrate the founding of Oklahoma State University in 1890.

Buying the Centennial Spirit Crape Myrtle at the Tree Center

This classic crape is still the reddest of them all – if you love red, then this is the one. It is not widely available, so take this rare opportunity and plant it in your garden. You will love it, and be so glad you chose this terrific tree. But act fast, as they go fast.

Growing the Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle

Size and Appearance

The Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle is a compact, bushy deciduous shrub, with dense branching from the ground. It quickly grows to 3 or 4 feet tall and wide, staying neat and compact with a little annual pruning. The rounded, glossy leaves are between 1 and 1 ½ inches long, a rich dark-green, and crowded along the stems.

The first flowers appear in early summer, with a peak display during July and August, continuing into early fall. Every branch is topped with a large cluster of many blooms, in rounded heads measuring 4 inches by 4 inches, packed with inch-wide individual flowers. These have a unique crinkled, crepe-paper look, and they are pure, glowing white, with a golden-yellow center. Individual flowers last just one day, but there are so many that the heads bloom for weeks. With dead-heading of the first flush, more flower clusters will be produced, keeping your bush blooming longer. If you leave it untrimmed, and this is fine to do at the end of the season, then fascinating seed-heads form, which stay well into winter, adding interest.

Using the Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle in Your Garden

The dense, smaller form of the Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle make it ideal for filling shrub beds with summer color. It can be grown alone in a smaller bed, or mass planted in a larger one. For group planting space plants about 2 feet apart. It can be grown on slopes, or used to fill the levels of terracing. Tuck it among the evergreens around your home, or plant a row to hide an unsightly fence or fill narrow spaces along a drive, or between a path and a wall. Sun-loving, it grows well right out in the heat and dryness. Its size and long bloom period also makes it an ideal container plant, standing outdoors all winter in zones 8 and 9.

Hardiness

The Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle is completely hardy in zones 7,8 and 9. It can be grown successfully in zone 6 too, even though it may suffer some winter damage. It will re-sprout in spring, after you remove any dead wood, and bloom just as prolifically. Make sure it has a hot, sheltered spot to grow in.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Like all crape myrtles, this one should be planted out in the sun. Even a small amount of shade impacts negatively on blooming. Plant in any well-drained soil, and established plants have good drought resistance, and thrive in hot areas, although a deep soak from time to time will really keep those blooms coming.

Maintenance and Pruning

Pests are almost never a problem, and like the best modern hybrids, the Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle has excellent resistance to powdery mildew and leaf spot. Some spring mulch will help develop strong vigorous growth by feeding your plant and conserving moisture. Dead-heading isn’t essential, but it will improve repeat flowering. Just trim off flower heads as soon as the last blossoms fall, cutting back to the first leaf. Before you know it fresh stems will sprout out and carry more blooms. Leave the latter heads, to enjoy those seed pods. If you want to keep it more compact, trim back in late winter or early spring, before new growth comes. You can cut stems of the previous year back to just a few inches long, an ideal thing to do for plants in containers. Don’t trim new shoots until they have bloomed.

History and Origin of the Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle

The Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle is a carefully created hybrid plant, based on earlier crosses between Lagerstroemia indica, the first crape myrtle grown in America, and other species, especially Lagerstroemia fauriei. Michael Dirr is a well known professor and breeder, and he created a breeding program a the Center for Applied Nursery Research in Dearing, Georgia. There he created his Razzle Dazzle® series of colorful dwarf crape myrtles. For this particular plant he began with seeds from a pink-flowering dwarf variety called Dazzle Me Pink®, (‘Gamad V’). He grew the seeds in 2000, and among them was one with a great dwarf habit and fabulous, pure-white flowers. He added to the series as Diamond Dazzle®, and patented it in 2012 with the official cultivar name of ‘PIILAG-I’. It was released to gardeners as part of the Gardener’s Confidence® Collection.

Buying the Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle at the Tree Center

White fits everywhere, so plant it with confidence that you won’t be seeing any clashing colors in your beds. The Diamond Dazzle® Crape Myrtle is a real winner when you want a small shrub with big flower power, so don’t hesitate. We have some great plants, but they won’t stay around long, so act now while we still have bushes to ship to you.

Growing the Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle

Size and Appearance

The Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle is a compact, dwarf, deciduous shrub that will grow rapidly into a dense, bushy plant 3 to 4 feet tall and wide. It forms a broad mound of many branches, each one carrying abundant blooms. The young stems are deep purple-red, maturing to a soft reddish-brown. The oval leaves grow densely along the stems, and they are leathery, smooth, and glossy, about 1½ inches long and an inch wide. They are deep green, turning yellow and orange in fall.

Flowering begins early in this variety, partly because of the small size, and also because of the breeding. Plants will be in full bloom in June, and continue to flower in waves all the way into early fall. Every new stem is topped with a cluster of blooms, and each cluster blooms for about 2 weeks. The individual flowers are over an inch wide, with five flaring petals that are ruffled and waved, with a crepe paper texture. They are a wonderful vibrant shade of deep pink to raspberry red – vibrant, powerful and bright, with a clean and fresh tone. A bush in bloom is simply wonderful, giving your summer garden a powerful color boost you are going to love.

Using the Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle in Your Garden

A real breakthrough, the Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle is so versatile, and its compact size makes it suitable for every garden, and for growing in planter boxes and pots as well. Use it in the front of shrub beds to keep them lively after the spring season is over. Line a path or driveway with delicious color for month after month. Use it as a low hedge, or to fill awkward narrow spaces – every garden has spots that this plant will transform.

Hardiness

Zones 7 to 10 are perfect for the Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle, and it enjoys heat and humidity. It can also be grown in zone 6, and in fact it’s smaller size makes it ideal there, still giving you a flower-filled dwarf shrub, even if all the growth above ground is killed by winter. Mulch for winter with a thick layer of bark or straw and wait until new growth begins before pruning – it can be hard to tell which branches are dead and which are not. Plants in containers can be left outside all winter in zones 8, 9 and 10. In colder zones remove from the pot and plant temporarily in the garden, or store containers in an unheated space – light is not necessary. If you have unheated storage like that, you can also grow this plant in zone 5, in a pot.

Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Give the Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle a place in full sun, as even a little shade reduces blooming. It grows vigorously in any well-drained soil, including poor soils and urban gardens. It is very drought resistant once established, but spring fertilizer and occasional summer watering pays dividends in blooms.
Maintenance and Pruning

The Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle resists powdery mildew, so it always stays clean and fresh, never turning dusty and tired looking. The secret to continuous blooming is dead-heading. Remove flower spikes as soon as the last blossoms fall, cutting back to the first full-sized leaf. New growth will sprout from that stem and more blossom heads will form within weeks. Feed plants in containers regularly to keep them vigorous. In spring, trim back the stems to encourage branching, but never prune new shoots before they have bloomed.

History and Origin of the Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle

The crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, has been grown in America for almost 250 years, but dwarf forms are relatively new, and older plants were always tree-like.
Victor M. Watts was a professor of horticulture at the University of Arkansas from 1927 to 1968. In 1962 he bred a bushy crape myrtle called ‘Centennial’, which had bright purple blooms. It was one of the first dwarf varieties. Mike Farrow is a talented and versatile plantsman and breeder. A graduate of the University of Maryland, he has his own specialist nursery in Earleville, MD. Around 2006 he sowed some seeds he had collected from a bush of ‘Centennial’, and studied the seedlings that grew. In 2009 he selected one, and named it ‘Conlagras’. In 2018 he was granted a patent on it. Working with Star® Roses and Plants, he released it as the color Raspberry in his Bellini series of dwarf crape myrtles.

Buying the Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle at the Tree Center

A breakthrough in versatility, there is a place in every garden, across the country, for the Bellini Raspberry Crape Myrtle. From pots and planters to hedges and mass planting, every garden will benefit from this rich transfusion of summer and fall color. Order now, because we never seem to be able to source enough plants of this popular variety, which sells out fast.

Growing the Watermelon Red Crape Myrtle

Size and Appearance

The Watermelon Red Crape Myrtle is a small to medium-sized deciduous tree, growing a foot or two taller each year, that will form a broad rounded crown and can be grown on a single trunk or on two or three trunks. It will grow to between 20 and 25 feet tall, with a crown of a similar spread, so allow 10 to 15 feet of clearance from buildings, property lines and other potential obstructions. Don’t plant beneath low overhead cables. In zone 6 you can expect regular winter damage, and a large shrub no more than 10 feet tall will develop – flowering will still be profuse. When more mature the trunk develops very attractive mottled patterns, shedding bark to reveal patches of different shades of grays, browns, and creams, making interest throughout the year, but especially in winter. The glossy oval leaves are up to 3 inches long, colored bronzy-red in spring and turning dark green as they mature. In fall they turn attractive shades of orange-yellow.

The superb flowers form at the ends of new shoots, and by mid-summer the first blooms will be opening. The individual flowers have crinkled and ruffled petals like crepe paper, and they are clustered in large heads up to 12 inches long. The flowers open in succession, producing blooms for weeks and weeks. They are a bright, pinkish red, very similar to the bright flesh of watermelons, and they really shine out across the garden in profusion, making a spectacular show. A second flush of blooms can form in late summer or early fall. This is encouraged by dead-heading spent flowers – practical at least while your tree is younger. Flowers are followed by clusters of unusual round seed pods that are yellowish-brown and persist into winter, adding an interesting display to those quiet months.

Using the Watermelon Red Crape Myrtle in Your Garden

As a small specimen tree, the Watermelon Red Crape Myrtle is unrivaled for beauty and impact. Plant it on a lawn as a single tree, or in a corner of your home for summer shading. Grow it in groups, or line it up along a pathway. Planted 10 feet apart it will make a solid screen, planted more than 20 feet apart it will make a stately avenue. In zone 6 grow it at the back of shrub beds for late color.

Hardiness

The Watermelon Red Crape Myrtle is fully hardy in zone 7, and thrives there, and even more in warmer zones. In zone 6 expect some winter kill, but a simple pruning in spring will maintain an attractive shrub form, and still give lots of blooms.
Sun Exposure and Soil Conditions

Full sun is perfect for the Watermelon Red Crape Myrtle, which won’t bloom well in shade. It grows in most ordinary soils, as long as they are well-drained and tolerates poor soil and dry conditions once established. Avoid wet places.

Maintenance and Pruning

You won’t have significant pest or disease problems, and this variety has excellent resistance to powdery mildew, although it isn’t a hybrid variety, as these were not developed until much later. Deer won’t normally bother it. Some formative pruning while young to develop the trunk form you want is advisable, and younger plants can be dead-headed. Any trimming is best done in spring, where old seed heads can be removed and the branches of the previous year trimmed back, even to just a couple of inches if needed. Avoid any temptation to trim new growth, as that will reduce or even prevent flowering. Although crape myrtles were once hard-pruned yearly, these days we favor a more natural look, so little or no pruning is really needed to fully enjoy this wonderful tree.

History and Origin of the Watermelon Red Crape Myrtle

The crape myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica, made its first appearance in America in Charleston in 1786, when it was still a French city. The French naturalist André Michaux brought plants over from England, where it had been introduced from its home in China about 30 years before. It thrived in the southern climate and has been a feature of the South ever since. The variety called Watermelon Red ’ was first listed at the T.V Munson Nursery in Denison, Texas in their 1922-23 catalogue, and again at Griffing Nursery, Beaumont, Texas in 1930. It is also sometimes listed as ‘Griffing’s Watermelon Red, which suggests that they could have been the actual developer, but both nurseries were famous in their time.

Buying the Watermelon Red Crape Myrtle at the Tree Center

For a tree-form crape myrtle, Watermelon Red is very hard to beat. It’s spectacular flowering and very large flower heads ensure a great show, and it is tough and reliable too. It’s a classic variety that isn’t offered as much as it once was, so take advantage of our current availability and add a wonderful tree to your garden. Order now, we only have a few and they will soon all be gone.