Lagerstroemia indica With Love Eternal - Crape Myrtle

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Eternal' ('Milavio), awarded a Silver Medal at Plantarium in 2015, belongs to the With Love series which brings together truly compact Indian lilacs with generous flowering. These plants are well resistant to frost, perfect for the ornament of pots and small gardens. This one produces numerous foamy clusters in shades of purple and mauve. Summer Lilacs are also appreciated for their richly coloured bark, ornamental all year round, as well as their beautiful autumn colours. These bushes like heat, but appreciate a little coolness in summer to support their flowering. 

The Lagerstroemia indica 'Eternal', obtained in Italy, is part of a series of hybrids carefully selected for their compactness, precocity, floribundus and hardiness. The 'With Love' Indian lilacs come in pale pink (Babe), purple mauve (Eternal), bright pink (Girl), pure white (Virgin) and dark pink (Kiss). 

The Indian lilac 'With Love Eternal' belongs to the Lythraceae family, like the Lagerstroemia indica, from which it is derived. Small in size, it will reach about 70 cm (27.6 in) in height and 40 cm (15.7 in) in width at ripeness. Its growth is rather slow. It starts flowering in the month of July and will continue to flower 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 a crepe. They are gathered in large, dense panicles, at the end of the year's branches. This flowering attracts bees and butterflies.

In 'Eternal', the pink-purple floral buds bloom largely into mauve flowers that fade over the hours, creating on the scale of the bush a very cheerful gradient. The foliage is born bronze in spring, then becomes deep green and shiny. It is composed of ovate leaves, which take orange or coppery tones in autumn, depending on the climate, before falling. Finally, and to finish in beauty, its bark is decorative : smooth, beige striate with grey, red-brown, peeling off in colourful plates (cinnamon, faded red, old pink, cream).

Indian Lilacs traditionally make the glory of the gardens of the South-West. Preferring humid and hot climates, this small tree in its improved form, deserves to also be acclimated in colder areas, providing there is careful choice of variety and location. Its hardiness and vigour allow it, like the new varieties of the Whith Love series. This plant is best planted 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 flowering hedge in a mix of varieties and colours, or emerging from a mound of perennials. In autumn, it accompanies the asters as colourful as itself. 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 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 with a narcotic action in case of ingestion.