Crape Myrtle 01
Crape Myrtle ‘Raspberry Dazzle’ [Lagerstroemia ‘Gamad II’ P.P. #17,216]
Twin Trunk

MARCH 19, 2023. I repotted this one last week, one of the last of my March repot frenzy. I’m glad I put four maples in the ground last fall, because I barely made it through the last few weeks of repotting all the ones I ignored for two years! I did try to get rid of some of the black mold over the winter, using hydrogen peroxide and a toothbrush. Unfortunately I didn’t do enough. So even after the repot (and buds are showing after my pruning), I have more cleaning to do. That’s sad because I want this one in a show. Guess that will wait until next year. I’ll start growing moss now — as soon as the current late freeze is over, and I’m sure the poor newly-repotted baby will live.  At least I was able to fix the placement in the pot. 🙂

August 6, 2022. Well, now I know. The black stuff on the trunk is caused by aphids – sort of. They feed on the leaves, leave a sticky substance behind, and a fungus feeds on that and looks horrible. This spring I didn’t repot (should have, but I didn’t), but I did take a toothbrush and tried to get rid of some of the black residue. I keep this one on a stand near the bird feeders, so I don’t want to use a lot of bug spray on the little bugs. I’ve been trying to use the recommended method of getting rid of the aphids: I blow them off the plant with a jet of water. It’s actually kind of fun, and it does remove them. But eggs hatch and they appear again. And I blast them off again. We’re in a battle.

March 8, 2021. I’m a little worried about this one. It’s too early to repot it, of course, but it got a sort of black fungus last fall, not long before we moved to Caldwell Crossings. I’ll trim it and treat it with Daconil soon, and repot it once it starts to bud out. If it doesn’t just shrivel up and die, of course.

July 2, 2020

July 3, 2020. This year I did what I should have done two years ago, and couldn’t do last year. It’s in Brian’s blue Tokoname oval, but I planted it to the wrong side of center. No idea how I did that. Now I think that the bumpy part on the main trunk is OK, it’s the too straight parts of both trunks that annoy me, I’ll try to scar them some, but eventually I might have to chop it back and let it regrow.

Looking at the photo I took yesterday, I think it might need either shortening or lengthening if I decide to keep the two straight trunks. Or maybe not let it get taller, just let the growth fill out.

October 23, 2019. I didn’t pot it up this year for a variety of reasons–including limited use of my high hand during repotting season. It benefited from a pretty good pruning and fabulous growth this year. It’ll go in Brian’s blue oval  in the spring.

2018. This tree looks great growing in the garden, and it’s now a two=trunk cutie. It’ll make it a nice tree next year when I put it in a pot. And comparing it now to the photos below, it’s really hard to see it’s the same tree. From 7″ to 24″ or so. There’s a little bumpy part on the primary trunk that I’ll have to smooth over, but that might not be too difficult. The bark is slick, but I hope scars will form just as smoothly.

2014. I tried potting this in the really shallow 8″ oval, but I didn’t use a good soil mix. It dried out way too fast, and I was afraid it had died after I left it unwatered for two days in late summer. Part of it did die. So I put it in the ground at the far end of the next to the top level of the garden. It lived.

September 9, 2012. This tree had a rough summer!
Several times I think mealy bugs got it, and when I sprayed, that killed the foliage. Need another spray, right/ [Edit 2018. The spray had neem oil in it, and I sprayed the poor thing in bright sunlight. Basically fried the foliage.]
Looking healthy now; I’ll let it gro out and prune it carefully next spring, before growth starts in earnest. Sort of let it start over.

April 12, 2012. I repotted the tree in the same pot, rewiring it as best I could–which didn’t come close to how it had been wired when I got it! I think I potted this one leaning back too far. I fell into my usual pattern and failed to look at it from the proper angle. Will try to wire the apex up a bit to make up for it.
It seems I did’t use quite enough organic matter in the soil — at least it seems that way today. Dries out a little too much in 80 degree weather. Doesn’t bode well for July and August.

August 2011. I got this to take home at the first ABS Saturday workday I attended, June, 2011. Paul Barrett handed it to me and told me to remove the wire. I had never in my life seen anything like the fine wire so carefully wound around every little twig. Then Paul came over and showed me all the smaller pieces I had missed. We talked a bit and he told me the little tree was mine to take home. Just loved it! I didn’t realize it at the time, but this was my first shohin tree.No blooms at all, but I kept it alive through the winter!

Photos