shohin crape myrtle

[stacy allen muse]

Here is a shohin, that despite it's size is rather old... I pulled it out of my folks yard while re-landscaping with easily maintenaced plants since they are getting older. It had been planted some 15 years before, I remember when they did it and it was not a small plant then... unfortunately neglect of watering which it was then presumed dead and stumped, then continual lawnmower chopping had added to it's demise. I when working on their yard actually triped over it, it was growing allong the edge of their grass.

I dug it up 4 years ago and have been working on it since. It has some rather nice dead wood. Unfortunately because of it's size I will never be able to allow it to grow out a flower. Unless the trunk size is increased. It has been wired a couple of times and needs further refinement, as well as another pot. The peagravel as a top dressing is mainly to keep the weeds down, since we get so much rain, they would take over if not.

 

[jk_lewis]

How large is it?

I think that if I were you I would plant it deeper in a pot so there are no see-through roots. Tht would, I think, give it a very pleasing flare at the base.

I grow small crape myrtle, too, but I enjoy occasionally letting one go and seeing the blooms. They trim back easy enough when blooming is done.

 

[JudyB]

I've never seen deadwood on a crape, very unique. I like it.
I let my small crape bloom this year for the first time, just to see what color it was. It was worth it, very pretty for a week, then just cut back the bloom spurs.

 

[stacy allen muse]

Jkl, not including the crappy pot, it stands 6 inches.
I agree with you on the roots. When collected, it had almost like a tap root going straight down, which held all the roots. the rest where dead at least I thought. So I planted it. the next thing I knew was that it actually sent out roots, almost like a ficus does, ariealing towards the ground. I was very surprised, for I had never seen this happen on a crape myrtle. I was letting them go in hopes that they would get bigger, but they never did. So yes, it needs to be buried lower. I just haven't gotten over it sending out the roots like it did.
I guess it figured it needed to do that in order to survive and perhaps with the humidity, it was able.