Crepe Myrtle

[melbrackstone]

This tree stands around 900mm tall from top of soil to top of the highest flower. When I bought it bare rooted I was told it was a white flowered plant....clearly it's not white....lol.

I'll be root pruning and looking for a new pot in Winter, any suggestions on style and colour? I suspect it'll have to be fairly deep, since it's so incredibly hot here in Summer...

Any help would be appreciated. Ta

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[Watto]

Wow, very impressive. My crepe myrtle will not flower for many weeks yet (its a climate thing). Your tree also has some nice movement so that is a bonus.
I have mine in a standard depth pot and it is blue to accentuate the flowers, just food for thought.

[melbrackstone]

Cheers Watto, I was a bit surprised at how early all my crepe myrtles seem to be this year!

I agree that blue is a good choice, but is yours pale blue or dark? I guess I need to take a flower with me to the bonsai nursery.

I'm leaning towards an oval.....

[anthonyW]

Very pretty Mel,with a nice trunk.

Anthony

[melbrackstone]

Thanks Anthony! Hopefully I can do it justice in the future.

[Ryceman3]

Very nice flowers and a lovely trunk line.
I think oval sounds right... maybe a softer blue - a bit more feminine for this one??
Great tree.

[melbrackstone]

Thanks Ryceman, I am really pleased how compact the growth and flowering is, compared to others I have.

Yes I think you're right, oval and paler blue, and agree, definitely a feminine style, since it's such a pretty flowerer.

Thanks for your input, much appreciated.

It's going to be interesting finding the right pot, I think, especially since it'll need to be quite large.

[bodhidharma]

Nice flowering and probably expected in Brissy. A deep cream pot would probably enhance the flowers. Mine has not yet popped and looks to be a few weeks off yet. It you want better development it would probably be good to take the flowers off.

[melbrackstone]

Hey thanks Bodhi, I hadn't thought of a cream pot! I'll keep that in mind when I'm searching.

This is my first flowering season with this plant, and I'm just happy to see its colour, to be honest. I will definitely go harder as I try to refine the branching, that's for sure! (It came in the mail back in August, 2016, so I'm happy with its progress!)

[Boics]

Looks great.
Some fine material me thinks!

Re. Style I'd be looking to compact, ramify and refine what is there.
See how that looks?

There is a thread with a chap who defoliates CM multiple times per season.
I've already defoliated mine once so far with great results.
I'll try and find the thread for you.

Edit here: viewtopic.php?f=129&t=22811&hilit=+Myrt ... 69#p230069

[melbrackstone]

Thanks so much Boics, and thanks for the link too.

I've spent from the time it started to leaf up til late November cutting back all the branches to two leaves, but stopped so that it could flower.

Now I know what colour it is, I can plan for the future, and will be looking to refine the branches a great deal once I have settled on a shape...

Appreciate your input, thanks!