Lagerstroemia indica Girl with Love - Crape Myrtle

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Girl With Love' is a very pretty variety of Indian Lilac with a compact habit. Its bright pink flowering spreads throughout the summer and early autumn, making it one of the best summer flowering bushes. In autumn, its leaves take on beautiful colours, thus extending its ornamental interest. Selected for its good hardiness, this bush can also be grown in pots in the colder regions. It has all the qualities needed for small gardens and terraces and will flourish in full sun, in fertile, light, not too dry soil.

The Indian Lilac 'Girl With Love' belongs to the small family of Lythraceae, known also to host the pomegranate (Punica granatum), of which there are flower and fruit species, as well as the cuphea, a few species of which are used as flowering perennials on the Mediterranean coast. These are indeed moderately to slightly hardy plants, the Lagerstroemia being one of the hardiest, as it resists up to -10 °C to -15 °C. However, it needs heat to flower, which limits its interest in northern areas, even though its bark becomes decorative over time, as the branches or trunk thicken. Indeed, in a cool area, it is most often present in the form of a bush, but in the south, tree-shaped specimens can be found.

'Girl With Love' is a variety of Indian Lilac that has been the subject of selection for several years, in Italy and then in the Centre of France, according to various criteria, notably resistance to diseases and cold, as well as the earliness and duration of flowering. This lasts for more than 2 months between July and October, the bush displaying beautiful clusters of bright pink flowers. The rather airy inflorescences are compound, made up of fine pedicels each bearing a flower with five very undulate petals, the texture of which is reminiscent of a crepe. The foliage, leathery and deciduous, is quite dark and glossy. It is composed of small ovate leaves, which take on beautiful yellow to reddish hues in autumn before falling, depending on the climate.

Preferring the humid and warm South Atlantic to the dry and windy Mediterranean, it is nevertheless successful on the mediterranean provided it is watered a little in summer. This bush also deserves to be acclimated in the colder areas of our country, carefully choosing the variety - and 'Girl With Love' is a good candidate for this -  and its location. It is when placed alone, close to the house, that you will be able to fully enjoy its generosity. It will also look good in a bush bed, a flowering hedge or emerging from a mound of perennials. Compose a bed like a bouquet, with Nepeta, Salvia sclarea or jamensis, Aster laevis. It will also partner well with other summer flowerings, like the formidable Lavateras, very hardy large perennials or the Hibiscus syriacus with their dazzling colours.

NB : Karl Von Linnaeus 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 a narcotic action if ingested.