2010 was a great year for crape myrtles in Cary.  A great many crapes were loaded so very heavily with blossoms that their limbs bent nearly to the ground.

And the colors?  Absolutely riotous.  Nothing laid back about crape myrtle colors. 

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Many years, the Japanese Beetles get to my first buds, before I get to the beetles, and we lose the blossoms.  Not in 2010!

 

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I recognize that crape myrtles are so commonplace that they are hardly special to some people.  But I never tire of seeing them.  Big or small.  Huge or dwarf.  Whether placed as an accent at a flower bed, or posturing alone as a specimen planting, I like them.
The Town of Cary has placed myriad crape myrtles in the medians of roadways, particularly the Cary Parkway.  When they are in bloom, it makes for a lovely drive.

And the bark puts on a show of its own!  As it peels, it offers fresh bark of a rich cinnamon color in contrast to the old bark.

 

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I have a fairly leggy specimen behind the house that I need to move out of the shade and into the sunshine.  That is a winter project here, as the tree is dormant and we can dig the North Carolina red clay ground all year around.  Along with pruning out some sucker branches, that is about all the maintenance my crape myrtles demand.

 

Check out my Crape Myrtle slideshow, with photos from 2010, and earlier years, in and around Cary and Raleigh, NC:

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___________________________________________________________________________________________

Scan the QR Code with your Smartphone to Email MeQR CodeMike Jaquish, REALTOR®

919-880-2769 www.CaryRealEstateSales.com

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Independent Broker/Owner, Michael P Jaquish, REALTOR®

Cary, NC

 
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13 Comments on Crape Myrtle Photos: The Antidote for Cabin Fever!

JAN
04
2011

Very nice Pics!
8:35pm • #1
313,475 Points 32 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Mike~ I LOVE Crape Myrtles! They are my favorite and yours are beautiful!! Seeing the sunny look makes me long for spring!
8:45pm • #2
742,160 Points 18 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Rob,

All credit to the crapes.  I'm just a lucky guy who gets to run around with a camera.

Melissa,

Spring?  Oh, Yes!  Give it 6 weeks or so.
9:05pm • #3
313,475 Points 32 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

Mike~ Six weeks music to my ears.....
9:22pm • #4
742,160 Points 18 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Melissa,

Yep!
9:26pm • #5
289,789 Points 6 Featured Posts Called Shot Master

Crape myrtles are such beautiful trees.  I never heard of them until we moved to Pleasanton.  Now they are a staple in our landscaping!
11:05pm • #6
742,160 Points 18 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Kate,

There isn't much of anything that is happier than a happy crape myrtle, is there?
11:08pm • #7
JAN
05
2011
724,924 Points 5 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Gorgeous plants, Mike! I really enjoy the look of Crape Myrtle’s when they’re blooming.
12:31am • #8
983,068 Points 114 Featured Posts Outside Blog Attended Rain Camp Called Shot Master

I'm so glad you posted this Mike!!  I'm so tired of the grey, rainy days.  Nice to see the warmer weather (even if only in photos), and the blossoms are gorgeous!!  We're expecting freezing rain in the next few hours! 
1:49am • #9
762,065 Points 37 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Great shots....I have planted so many of these over the years. I love the way the bark kind of folds back.

Have a great day!
6:10am • #10
742,160 Points 18 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Bill,

Thanks!  Me too!

Carla,

=)  I needed it too.  We have been a little gray here lately.

Rob,

Thanks!  Obviously, crape myrtles are one of my favorites too.
6:51am • #11
JAN
06
2011
107,941 Points 1 Featured Post Localism Sponsor Outside Blog

Great photos!  I'm very thankful for the crape myrtles here in north Texas.  They can really take the heat and still look wonderful.  So, what's your opinion on pruning?  Do you let them keep growing, twigs and all, or do you chop them back to the big limbs? 
11:37am • #12
742,160 Points 18 Featured Posts Outside Blog Called Shot Master

Hi, Melanie!

My pruning approach:  Prune out deadwood and sucker limbs in winter when the shrub/tree is dormant to thin it out.
I have a Natchez Crape Myrtle in front of the house that I want to see at 30 feet tall, like a small shade tree.  It has finally started to run, after a few years of sleeping, creeping, and crawling....

NEVER EVER commit Crape Murder, cutting back to a stump.  That ruins the shape, permanently.
I went to a broker's open and told the listing agent, a friend, that they would do better if they removed the 3 or 4 crape myrtles they hacked to pieces at the driveway.  Curb appeal was a disaster!
And they had been large enough that replacing them would cost a few thousand dollars.  What a shame.
11:47am • #13

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Mike Jaquish 919-880-2769 Cary, NC, Real Estate

Realty Arts

Cary, NC

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Address: 109 Saint Lazare Drive, Cary, NC, 27513

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Cary, NC, blog. I'm in Cary, North Carolina, writing about Real Estate, including Cary, Raleigh, Apex, Wake County, NC, and around the USA..



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