Lagerstroemia indica Camaïeu dEte Indycam - Crape Myrtle

Lagerstroemia indica 'Camaïeu d'Eté' is the earliest and perhaps the most compact variety of Indian Myrtles from the INDIYA CHARMS® series, shrubs with an abundance of flowers. This one, of small size, blooms from the beginning of July with frothy clusters of flowers from mauve to white through pink, impressive in their number. Summer Myrtles are also appreciated for their smooth, richly coloured, ornamental bark as well as their beautiful autumn colours. These bushes love heat but appreciate some coolness in summer to support their flowering. This one will make a sensation in isolation in a small garden or in a pretty pot on the terrace.

Lagerstroemia indica 'Camaïeu d'Eté', recently obtained in France by Lagerstroemia SARL, is part of a series of carefully selected hybrids chosen for their unprecedented colours, their early and abundant flowering, their compactness, and their resistance to powdery mildew.  This variety published by SAPHO is still little known in trade.

'Camaïeu d'Eté' belongs to the Lythraceae family, like Lagerstroemia indica, from which it is derived and which native to China. This shrub has a bushy and branched and slightly spreading habit from the base, with a rounded crown. Of small size, it will reach about 2.2 m (7 ft 5 in) in height at maturity, and a diameter of 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in), which makes ideal for small spaces. Its growth is quite fast. It chooses the beginning of July, or the end of June to start its flowering, and this will continue until September. The large inflorescences, in ramified clusters, are composed of very numerous small flowers carried by thin pedicels. Each flower has five petals with a very undulate edge, whose texture looks like that of crepe.  They are gathered in large, dense panicles, at the end of this year's growth.

In 'Camaïeu d'Eté', the pedicels are rosy,  the floral buds are wine red and shiny, then they bloom widely into flowers which change from pale pink to mauve then to almost white, in a very pretty gradient of pastel tones. The deciduous foliage is bronze, then becomes dark green and shiny. It is composed of large ovate leaves, which often take lovely orange or coppery hues in autumn before falling, depending on the climate. In addition, its beautiful bark is 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  'Camaïeu d'Eté', 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 its beautiful 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.

The creation of varieties in Indian Myrtles has long been a French speciality, particularly in the south-west of our country, the two main hybridisers being then in the Périgord but also in the Quercy. Other enthusiasts have embarked on the adventure, like Christian Gaurrat and Antoine Scrive in the Landes.