Lagerstroemia indica Summer Beauty Velmas Royal Delight - Crape Myrtle

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Velma's Royal Delight', like all other varieties in the Summer Beauty series, is an early and floribundus variety with a compact habit, well suited to small spaces and container growing. This small bush with an upright habit flowers from July to September, is adorned with numerous clusters of flowers in an intense magenta pink, and radiant under the summer sun. Like all summer lilacs, it has a very decorative bark that peels off in coloured plates, as well as beautiful autumn colours. Its other assets are good resistance to cold and mildew. A drained soil, but which remains a little fresh in summer, will support its flowering.

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Velma's Royal Delight', obtained in the 1960s by Watts (USA), is part of a series of hybrids carefully selected for their compactness, their earliness, their floribundity, and their lesser sensitivity to mildew. 

'Velma's Royal Delight' belongs to the Lythraceae family, like the Lagerstroemia indica, from which it comes. Its habit is rather upright, its bushy crown is taller than it is wide. Of modest stature, it will reach about 2.10m in height and 1.80m (5 ft 11 in) at ripeness. Its growth is quite rapid. It chooses the beginning of July (or even the end of June) to start its flowering, which 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 recalls that of crepe. The flowers are gathered in large, dense panicles, at the ends of the year's branches.

In 'Velma's Royal Delight', the floral buds bloom widely in magenta pink-red flowers that slightly fade over the hours, creating a subtle gradient of colours on the scale of the bush. The foliage, leathery and deciduous, is born reddish bronze in spring, then becomes dark green and shiny. It consists of ovate leaves, which take lovely orange and red hues in the autumn, depending on the climate, before falling. Finally, its bark is decorative : smooth, beige striate with grey, red-brown, peeling off in coloured plates (cinnamon, faded red, old rose, cream).

Indian Lilacs traditionally prefer the humid and warm climates. It is a small tree which, in its improved form, deserves to be acclimatised to cooler climates, providing carefully consideration is given to the variety and its location. Its hardiness and vigour allow it, like the new varieties in the Summer Beauty series. It is in an isolated location, near the house, where you will be able to fully enjoy its generosity. It will look good in a low bush bed, or in a small flowered hedge mixed with varieties and colours, or emerging from a mound of perennials. In the autumn, it accompanies the cotinus and deciduous spindle trees, that are equally as colourful. In a large pot on the terrace, it puts on a show as the summer flowerings slow down. 

NB: Karl Von Linnaeus named this tree in honour of 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 wish to point out that this tree produces fruits with a narcotic action in case of ingestion.