Lagerstroemia indica Black Diamond Lavender Lace - Crape Myrtle

Lagerstroemia indica 'Black Diamond Lavender Lace, is a variety of Indian myrtle that stands out in the garden with its mass of clusters of bright pastel purple flowers contrasting with a sumptuous deep black foliage! This deciduous shrub presents a upright habit and moderate growth suitable for the smallest gardens and for pots. Its black foliage appears in the spring and remains of excellent condition all year round until the end of autumn. Its flowering occurs quite early, starting from the month of June and continues until the first frosts. It is a species that likes hot and very sunny locations in drained, rich soil, which is not too dry and without too much limestone. With easy cultivation once well established, the variety has good hardiness, good resistance to mildew and drought and requires no maintenance. Use it in a pot to decorate a patio all year round or to highlight a path by planting several in a row. It is also a good choice to accompany other flowering bushes in an informal hedge.

Lagerstroemia indica 'Black Diamond® Lavender Lace' is a recent introduction that belongs to the Black Diamond series which groups hybrids selected for their black foliage that never fades and their robustness.

'Black Diamond Lavender Lace' belongs to the Lythraceae family, like the Lagerstroemia indica, from which it comes and which is native to China. This variety has an upright habit and moderate growth. It will reach on average 3 m (9 ft 10 in) in height and 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in width. Its growth is average.  It chooses the month of June start flowering, which will continue until September. The inflorescences are groupls of thin pedicels each bearing five petals with a very undulate edge, the texture of which look like that of crepe. They are gathered in dense panicles, at the end of this year's branches.

In 'Black Diamond Lavender Lace, the pedicels and floral buds are a purplish red, then the floral buds bloom open in beautiful shades of pastel purple and lavender. The centre of the flowers is enhanced by fine golden yellow stamens. The foliage, leathery and deciduous, is a deep black that never tarnishes, even under a scorching sun. It is made up of small ovate and pointed leaves, with a shiny appearance.  Finally, and to complete its beauty, its bark when it ages, is very interesting: smooth, beige and striated with brown-red, and flakes to display cinnamon, faded red, old pink, cream marbling.

Indian myrtles are the glory of gardens. Preferring the humid and warm climate, it is a small tree that can also to be acclimatised in a colder area as it can also be quite hardy.  Enjoy it as a specimen shrub near the house. It will look good in a shrub bed, a flowering hedge, or emerging from a clump of perennials. Mix into a flowering bed with Campanula pyramidalis, Salvia sclarea or jamensis and Aster laevis. In autumn, it works well with Cotinus and deciduous spindle trees, with all their colour. It also creates a lovely display in a large pot on the patio, when other summer flowering plants are slowing down. Display this plant, Lagerstroemia indica Black Solitaire (Black Diamond) with a wonderful planting tapestry of groundcover with thymes, oreganos and other silver creeping plants weaving like a tapestry around the base of its trunk, highlighting its bark and reflecting the beauty of its bark, its flamboyant autumn foliage and its intensely coloured flowering. 

NB: Karl Von Linne named this tree to honour his friend Magnus Von Lagestroem (1696 – 1759), who had sent it to him from India for identification. Originally, this tree was used to decorate Chinese temples. We would like to point out that this tree produces fruits that have are poisonous if ingested.