When I drive around any area of Atlanta, Georgia in July or August, I enjoy seeing subdivisions framed, and houses and roadsides adorned, with crepe myrtles. They decorate the landscape with splashes of pink, lavender, red and white, and with the interesting forms of their exfoliating trunks. They can complement trees and plants and structures beautifully, or they can make a statement alone. Being attractive yet drought tolerant and suitable for the harsh environment of Texas, it was designated the Texas state shrub in 1997- even though it is not a native plant. With one of the longest blooming periods of any flowering tree, with the availability of so many sizes, forms and colors, and with the tree’s ability to withstand extreme pruning to take on a desired form, the crepe myrtle is one of the most popular ornamental trees in the South.
The crepe myrtle most common to us, Lagerstroemia indica, has leaves similar to the myrtle shrub, but it is not in the myrtle family. 
Southerners named the tree “crepe” myrtle because its thin, crinkly flower petals look much like crepe paper or crepe fabric. However, people in the North and even the American Horticultural Society spell the name “crape” myrtle. Even more confusing is the fact that the name can be spelled crepemyrtle or crapemyrtle. I personally prefer to follow Southern Living magazine in its use of the name crepe myrtle. Lagerstroemia is most often used as crepe myrtle’s common name outside the United States.
The crepe myrtle is a flowering deciduous shrub or tree that is native to Asia. When it was brought to England from China, the weather was not hot enough for it to bloom there. However, when it was brought to a Charleston, South Carolina garden from England around 1786, the plant bloomed profusely loving the weather of the South. The variety Lagerstroemia fauriei was brought to the United States from Japan in 1956, to bring features such as cold 
hardiness, better fungal resistance, and showier bark. A variety from India, Lagerstroemia speciosa or “Queen”, is the showiest of the crepe myrtles and can only be grown in the tropical South. There are many cultivars of indica and fauriei available, but the variety speciosa is only available as seed-grown.
Crepe myrtles have attractive features. The exfoliating trunks may be single or multiple, and are showy in all seasons with cinnamon, tan, or gray bark that is smooth. The tree’s long branches have medium-green leaves that appear alternately, but some leaves may appear almost opposite each other. The leaves turn yellow, red-orange, or red in autumn.
Indica cultivar leaves are typically rounded and up to 3 inches long. Hybrid cultivars usually have lance-shaped leaves that are up to 5 inches long and 3 inches wide. Speciosa leaves are even 
longer. Pink, lavender, red or white crepe myrtle flowers appear at the end of branches in large panicles, or cone shaped clusters. These clusters may be 5 to 8 inches long, and 3 to 5 inches wide. Individual flowers are up to 1 ½ inches wide, with thin petals crinkled like crepe paper. Flowers produce green fruit that are about ¼ inch round. When these fruit mature and dry they split releasing seeds. Crepe myrtle may be propagated by seeds or by rooting cuttings.
Extreme pruning, or “crepe murder”, is what some people call pollarding crepe myrtles. An advantage of extreme pruning is the tree remains the height desired. The pruning encourages vigorous growth of new limbs, the panicles of flowers tend to be larger, and an attractive, bushy top is formed. A disadvantage to extreme pruning is the new limbs crowd each other stifling air flow through the foliage and this promotes fungal diseases. Also, the new limbs are thin and weak, and they may break with the weight of the large panicles. Pruning the limbs each year to maintain shape is a chore, and many consider the twigs left after pruning to be unsightly. To retain the beauty of the tree’s natural form and to save the effort of much pruning, consider getting cultivars that are the color, height, and form desired. As it makes no sense to fight a 35 foot tree to maintain an 8 foot height, choose from available cultivars that range from 3 feet to 35 feet, and that have options of shrub form or tree form. Only occasional pruning should be needed on those trees to get rid of 
unwanted suckers and to thin the foliage. Extreme pruning should be thought of as a distinct style that is wanted, not what is necessary to maintain a beautiful tree.
However you spell it or use it, crepe myrtles have become one of the most popular ornamental trees in the South. I enjoy the beauty of this tree.
