Crape myrtles are a popular choice for backyard landscaping, offering beauty and practicality. These versatile plants enhance outdoor spaces, transforming a garden into a vibrant retreat.
Why Crape Myrtles Excel in Backyard Design
Crape myrtles excel in landscape design. Their long blooming season (60-120 days from summer into fall) provides continuous color when other plants fade. Beyond flowers, they offer year-round appeal with attractive exfoliating bark and brilliant fall foliage in orange, red, or yellow.
These plants adapt to varying conditions, tolerating heat, humidity, and drought once established. Their low maintenance requirements mean they thrive with minimal intervention. This versatility and hardiness make them ideal for backyard design.
Selecting Crape Myrtles for Your Design Goals
Choosing the appropriate crape myrtle variety is key for your design goals. Varieties range widely in mature size: dwarf (2-5 feet), semi-dwarf/medium (6-20 feet), and tall (over 20 feet, some up to 50 feet). Consider mature height and spread to prevent overcrowding and ensure fit without excessive pruning.
Bloom color is another design consideration, with flowers in white, pink, red, lavender, and purple. Varieties include ‘Natchez’ (white), ‘Tuscarora’ (coral pink), and ‘Catawba’ (purple). Growth habits vary (upright, spreading, weeping), influencing their use. Select disease-resistant cultivars like ‘Natchez’, ‘Sioux’, ‘Tonto’, and ‘Tuscarora’ to minimize powdery mildew.
Design Principles and Placement Strategies
Incorporating crape myrtles into backyard design involves thoughtful placement. They serve as focal points due to their striking summer blooms and interesting winter bark. For privacy or screening, taller varieties like ‘Tuscarora’, ‘Natchez’, or ‘Muskogee’ can form a dense hedge when planted 3 to 6 feet apart, depending on density and cultivar.
Mass planting multiple crape myrtles creates visual impact, while integrating them into mixed borders adds vertical interest and seasonal highlights. When selecting companion plants, consider those that thrive in full sun and well-drained soil. Suitable companions include:
Evergreens for winter contrast
Nandinas with multi-colored foliage
Hydrangeas like ‘Limelight’ for overlapping bloom times
Perennials such as hostas, salvia, coneflowers, or verbena
Optimal placement requires at least six hours of direct sunlight daily for prolific flowering. While adaptable to various soil types, crape myrtles prefer well-drained conditions with a slightly acidic pH (5.0-6.5). When planting, ensure sufficient distance from structures (e.g., 6 feet from buildings, 3 feet from fences) to accommodate mature size and allow air circulation.
Maintaining Your Crape Myrtle Landscape
Proper maintenance preserves crape myrtle health and appeal. Pruning should occur in late winter or early spring before new growth, as flowers develop on new wood. This avoids “crape murder,” a severe topping that disfigures the plant and causes weak growth. Instead, thin crossing or inward-growing branches, remove suckers, and shape the plant to maintain its natural form. Removing spent flower heads in summer can encourage additional blooms.
Consistent watering is crucial, especially for newly planted crape myrtles, needing deep irrigation 2-3 times per week during their first season to establish roots. Once established, they are drought-tolerant but benefit from deep, infrequent watering (about one inch per week) during dry periods. Water at the base to keep foliage dry and reduce fungal issues like powdery mildew. Fertilize lightly in early spring with a balanced general-purpose fertilizer (e.g., 8-8-8 or 10-10-10). Over-fertilizing causes leafy growth at the expense of flowers, so established plants in fertile soil may need less frequent application.