Native Plants
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Ask Mr. Smarty Plants
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Thursday - March 26, 2009
From: Chandler, AZ
Region: Southwest
Topic: Non-Natives
Title: Failure to bloom of non-native crepe myrtle
Answered by: Barbara Medford
QUESTION:
I have a white crepe myrtle that never bloomed last year..my pink ones were beautiful. What can I fertilize with to promote blooming for the white one? And, yes, it is in the sun!ANSWER:
While there is a crape myrtle native to North America, Malpighia glabra (wild crapemyrtle), it is native only to Texas and is a member of the Malpighiaceae (Barbados Cherry) family. It is therefore not even closely related to Lagerstroemia indica, which is native to temperate and tropical Asia. The Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center is dedicated to the care and propagation of plants native not only to North America but to the area in which they grow naturally, which places this out of our range of expertise. We can, however, refer you to a Floridata website, Lagerstroemia indica, which should give you some more information on the culture of your plants. We can also advise you NOT to fertilize until you explore some more possibiities for the non-bloom, as over-fertilizing creates abundant foliage at the expense of blooms, especially high-nitrogen lawn fertilizer. It is possible that your white crape myrtle is situated where regular lawn fertilizing is causing it receive an overdose of nitrogen.
More Non-Natives Questions
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June 24, 2013 - When is the best time of year to prune Plum Delight? And how severely can it be cut back?
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Non-native Merremia tuberosa
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I have been trying to find the scientific name and a sapling of a plant which had "flowers that look like rose flowers but are brown in color and have a paper like...
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Removing Creeping Fig Suckers
October 17, 2012 - Help Mr Smarty Plants,
I am helping a neighbor remove a creeping fig from her property and want to know if there is any product that will soften, emulsify or remove the remaining sucker roots on the ...
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Non-native hosta and cedar tree in Burlington, ON
April 23, 2009 - Will hosta grow along side cedar trees, if planted at the same time?
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Transplant shock in non-native crape myrtle from Wesley Chapel, FL
June 12, 2012 - I just bought a 12 ft. crape myrtle and planted it, giving it plenty of water I think. After 3 days the leaves are wilting and flowers are falling off.
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