Lagerstroemia indica 'Fuchsia d'Eté' (Indyfus)

Lagerstroemia indica 'Fuchsia d'Eté' is a new variety of Crape Myrtle with a gorgeous early dark pink flowering, which has the good taste to bloom reliably even north of the Loire. Robust and resistant to powdery mildew, this bush, which can become a small tree, produces wonderful compact and dense clusters of frothy flowers with golden stamens, among young leaves tinted with red, enhanced by purple stems. Summer Lilacs are also appreciated for their smooth bark, often richly coloured, and their beautiful autumn colours. These bushes love heat but appreciate a bit of coolness at their feet in summer to support their flowering. This one, cultivable in many regions, will make a sensation as a standalone plant in a small garden, as a lively hedge, or at the heart of a flowerbed.

Lagerstroemia indica, native to China, belongs to the family Lythraceae. 'Fuchsia d'Eté' is a recent variety. It belongs to the 'Indiya Charms' range created in the Landes by two passionate nurserymen of Crape Myrtle, Christian Gaurrat and Antoine Scrive. This collection stands out for the exceptional earliness, floribundity, compactness, brightness, and disease resistance (including powdery mildew) of the varieties that compose it.

Lagerstroemia indica 'Fuchsia d'Eté' is a bush that has a bushy and ramified habit from the base, with a rounded, slightly spread-out crown. It will reach an average height of 4m (13 ft 1 in) at maturity, with a diameter of 2m. Its growth is quite rapid. It usually chooses July to start its flowering, which will continue until September-October, depending on the climate. The inflorescences, in ramified clusters, are composed of numerous small flowers carried by thin pedicels. Each flower has five petals with a very undulate edge, whose texture resembles that of crepe. They are gathered in large, dense panicles at the tips of the branches of the year.

In 'Fuchsia d'Eté', the peduncles, pedicels, and flower buds are shiny purple-pink, then they open widely into intense and vibrant fuchsia pink flowers. The foliage, leathery and deciduous, develops throughout the season, with young reddish leaves accompanying the pink flowering. Mature leaves sport a shiny dark green colour and often take on a fiery red hue in autumn, more intense in cool climates. Finally, and to finish beautifully, its bark is truly beautiful, smooth, beige striated with grey, reddish-brown, peeling off in colored patches (cinnamon, muted red, old rose, cream).

Crape Myrtles traditionally adorn gardens in the Southwest. Preferring the humid and warm South Atlantic over the dry and windy Mediterranean, it is a small tree that deserves to be acclimatized in the colder areas, by carefully choosing the variety and its location. Its hardiness and vigour allow it. It looks best as a standalone plant, close to the house, where you can fully enjoy its generosity. It will make a good impression in a shrub bed, a flowering hedge, or emerging from a cluster of perennials. Compose a bed like a bouquet, with Nepeta, Salvia sclarea or S. jamensis, Aster laevis. In autumn, it accompanies smoke bushes and deciduous spindle trees, as colourful as itself. In a large pot on the terrace, it puts on a show while summer blooms fade. We have imagined a simple three-coloured plant tapestry as a ground cover to highlight the 'Fuchsia d'Eté' Crape Myrtle: a weaving of thymes (Thymus hirsutus, longicaulis, nitens), oregano, and silver thistles will dress the base of its trunk, emphasize the beauty of its bark, and reflect its beautiful flowering.

NB: We would like to point out that this tree produces fruits with a narcotic effect if ingested.

Creating new varieties of Crape Myrtle has long been a French specialty, particularly in the southwest of our country, where the two main hybridizers were located in Périgord and Quercy.