Crape Myrtle Companion?

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andy10917
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Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by andy10917 » August 16th, 2018, 4:49 pm

I'm vacationing on Long Beach Island, NJ ("LBI" to the NJ crowd) and every house seems to have a red Crape Myrtle, paired with a very-pale-green (almost white) companion plant (questioning the imagination of NJ now) that looks like an 6' overgrown Hydrangea-from-Hell from a distance.

Where I live (maybe 100 miles north of LBI), Crape Myrtle dies far too often in the Winter and you rarely see them if at all.

What is the companion plant? I'm thinking Eastern Snowball ("Viburnum"). Can someone verify?

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by TimmyG » August 16th, 2018, 11:39 pm

Oh, Andy, Andy, Andy. You need to look up away from your grass and hostas more frequently. That is a Hydrangea paniculata, or more commonly a panicle hydrangea, as opposed to, say a mophead hydrangea (Hydrangea macrophylla). If I had to guess, I would say the cultivar is 'Limelight'. Fantastic shrub and specimen. I have roughly a dozen different cultivars of Hydrangea paniculata. Most cultivars would have turned to some shade of pink by now in NJ, which is one reason I think that might be 'Limelight', which hangs onto white far longer than most. I also have at least a dozen different species of viburnum.

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by TimmyG » August 16th, 2018, 11:49 pm

Eastern Snowball viburnum (Viburnum opulus 'Sterile') really wasn't a bad guess, but the leaves are way off, and the viburnum has a short bloom period that ended a couple months ago.

Crape myrtles can be quite impressive, but man are they overused. Lowe's is even selling them in southern NH this year with a tag claiming it to be hardy to zone 5. Yeah, right. I'll believe it when I see a mature one in a landscape.

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by PW405 » August 17th, 2018, 8:00 am

I'm glad Andy asked... I'm pretty sure I have one of those in my backyard, but something is very wrong with it. Looks like it has been dying for 4 years but still has those large, white blooms. Considered digging it up, but haven't got around to it yet.

Side note - surprised the ol' Crape's grow so far north. The Crape Myrtle - Palm Tree of the Plains! :rotfl:

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by andy10917 » August 17th, 2018, 8:33 am

Crape myrtles can be quite impressive, but man are they overused. Lowe's is even selling them in southern NH this year with a tag claiming it to be hardy to zone 5.
Yup. My wife insisted that we try a Crape Myrtle as she liked them a little farther south in Cape May, NJ. Life expectancy of 23 minutes was attained in our backyard (where Zones 6, 6a and 5 all bunch up). Any particular Winter can be a Zone 6a winter or a Zone 5 winter. -10 is possible in any year.


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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by andy10917 » August 17th, 2018, 10:17 am

Thanks, TIMMYG!! That's exactly it. Home Depot had 1-gallon size for $34, but the spot I want to put it in is too conspicuous to wait 5 years for it to approach mature size. I found a 3-gallon size on Amazon Prime for $41.50, so (just like me) I ordered two. I love the way it will go from lime-green to cream to white to dark pink over the later season, and the fact that it's good all the way to Zone 3 (although I don't trust pushing their claims, it should be OK in Zone 6a/5).

BTW, I appreciate the teasing - if I give it out, I have to take it when it's dished to me too. However, if you submit your soil test for 2019 in March, I'll probably need until November or so to get to it. :duel:

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by turf_toes » August 17th, 2018, 10:38 am

LBI is a good 90 minutes south on the Garden State Parkway (why do we drive on the Parkway but park on the driveway?). Crepes are pretty hardy even here. You might be able to pull it off. But you do get a LOT more snow than we do. So maybe not.

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by TimmyG » August 17th, 2018, 10:49 am

Good thing I don't submit my soil tests! In fact, in the years that I've been a member, I'm not sure that I've ever asked a question. But that's just me being proficient with the search function. ;-)

You'll be happy to know that Hydrangea paniculata are extremely flexible, accepting of a wide range of soil moistures and sun to shade. They're also quite fast growing. And you'll be happy to know that they are indeed much more winter hardy than our zone 6a/5b.

When possible, know that they do like and perform best with good soil moisture. You'll see them planted in your typical lawn and bed setting, but I've also been planting them in my wetlands, both fun sun and light shade, where snow melt leads to flooding for weeks in the spring but just good moist soil the rest of the rear.

Also, you can prune as much or as little as you want with these. The best time to prune is in the spring just after the leaf buds emerge. Some pruning will help it to branch out and also create stronger stems to better hold up those heavy panicles. You can also prune heavily each year to avoid the "overgrown Hydrangea-from-Hell" look and size if you don't have the space. These plants are robust.

Know also that the panicles make fantastic dried cut flowers that last for years. My wife has a vase full of 'Limelight' panicles from our last house that must be at least five years old.

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by andy10917 » August 23rd, 2018, 1:20 pm

Home Depot had 1-gallon size for $34, but the spot I want to put it in is too conspicuous to wait 5 years for it to approach mature size. I found a 3-gallon size on Amazon Prime for $41.50, so (just like me) I ordered two.
The "Limelight" plants arrived already, and the ones I got from Amazon ($41.50 each) are 3X the size of the ones I saw at HD ($34 each)! No damage - they are in near-perfect state.

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by TimmyG » August 23rd, 2018, 1:39 pm

Nice! So were those shipped and sold by Amazon directly or Garden Goods Direct? When you first wrote, I only saw the 3-gal at that price available from Garden Goods Direct ($29.75+$10.75 ship), but Amazon has since added stock w/Prime shipping. I've bought from several vendors through Amazon, and it's just good to keep track of who is reliable, both in getting quality plants to you in the first place but also standing by their product when problems do occur. FWIW, don't hesitate to purchase from Proven Winners through Amazon, Home Depot, or directly. Their customer service has been top notch, replacing plants ASAP with minimal effort on my part.

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andy10917
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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by andy10917 » August 23rd, 2018, 2:28 pm

It says the vendor was "Amazon.com Services Co" and it was prime, but at the very top it also says "Premier Plant Solutions". The plants are bigger than the pix on Amazon. BTW, it was a Proven Winners product.

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andy10917
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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by andy10917 » August 23rd, 2018, 5:29 pm

The damned things were already 29" tall, and 32" wide. They arrived with blooms forming already - thumbs up!

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Re: Crape Myrtle Companion?

Post by TimmyG » August 24th, 2018, 10:45 pm

A worthy read from the Chicago Botanic Garden:
Low-Maintenance, Long-Lasting Hydrangeas (PDF)

Keep in mind that a lot has progressed since 2011 with new panicle hydrangea cultivars.

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