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Ebony Glow Crape Myrtle
Lagerstroemia indica 'Ebony Glow'
Ebony Glow Crape Myrtle is an exciting new Crape Myrtle hybrid that has the darkest black leaves anyone has seen on any Crape Myrtle. It is a stunning addition for a wide variety of landscape projects.
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Ebony Glow Crape Myrtle Trees for Sale Online
This pink flowering bombshell of a tree is an exciting new Crape Myrtle Hybrid that will bring endless beauty and interest to a landscape. Boasting impressive dark foliage along with blush pink, nearly white blooms in early summer, the Ebony Glow is a sight for sore eyes.
Reaching a mature height of 10-12 feet tall, this mid-size crape myrtle is a fan favorite specimen tree. If you're in search of a small tree to make a large impact, look no further than crape myrtle trees!
The intense black leaves and pale pink blooms aren't the only things to look forward to with this magnificent tree! Crape Myrtle Lagerstroemia x Ebony Glow is also loved for its hardiness to the elements and low maintenance care regimen. The Ebony Glow tolerates most soils and is resistant to disease.
| Hardiness Zone: | 7-9 |
|---|---|
| Mature Height: | 10 to 12 feet |
| Mature Width: | 6 to 8 feet |
| Classification: | mid-sized tree form (up to 12 feet) |
| Sunlight: | Full Sun |
| Habit: | Deciduous, densely branched, multi-stemmed summer through the first frost |
| Flower Color: | blush-pink to white flowers in mid to late summer through the first frost |
| Foliage: | New growth emerges a rich dark purple black |
| Soil Condition: | Any well drained soil |
| Water Requirements: | Water well until established |
| Uses: | Extremely attractive when used as a focal point in the mixed border, mass planting, or a specimen planting |
How to Care for Ebony Glow Crape Myrtle
Be sure to read our planting instructions to ensure a healthy and happy plant for years to come!
Additional Information
History and introduction of Crape Myrtle:
In the mid-1960s, the National Arboretum embarked on a crape myrtle breeding program that continues today, forty-five years later. It was begun by the late Donald Egolf, a research horticulturist whose goal was to produce disease-resistant, cold-hardy crape myrtles. In the first five years, he focused on breeding and selecting pure Lagerstroemia indica for these traits. The result was the release of six cultivars in 1967 and 1970, each named for a Native American tribe, chosen to impart a distinctly American designation to introductions from this program. Several of these selections are still widely grown today, including ‘Catawba’, ‘Cherokee’, and ‘Seminole’. Though an improvement over cultivars then available, they were to be followed by a much more important milestone in breeding and development. In 1956, a long-forgotten species of crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia fauriei) was rediscovered on the small Japanese island of Yakushima. Botanists found only one specimen on the island. Seeds collected from that tree were sent back to the United States and dispersed to arboretums and nurseries. The resulting seedling trees proved to be immune to powdery mildew, a disease that often afflicted L. indica and that the USNA breeding project had sought to eradicate. This purely white-flowered tree was less showy in bloom than L. indica, but it bore dramatic cinnamon and burgundy exfoliating bark. Egolf began hybridizing Lagerstroemia indica with the seedlings of L. fauriei. He hoped to impart disease resistance and handsome bark to the hybrid offspring, which were assigned the name L. xfauriei. What he achieved was a lasting legacy of spectacular and popular cultivars. Disease resistance, beautiful bark, and enhanced cold hardiness were imparted to these hybrids, just as Egolf had planned. Following the release of the first hybrid selections (‘Muskogee’ and ‘Natchez’) in 1978, twenty-one hybrid cultivars would be selected, named, and introduced over the next twenty-five years. Each was thoroughly tested for disease resistance, length of bloom, and cold hardiness in Washington, DC (USDA zone 7a). Later, a third cold-hardy species was added to the hybrid program: Lagerstroemia limii, a lavender-flowered species occasionally grown in western Oregon. Its large furry leaves and rough bark distinguished it from L. indica and L. fauriei. In 2003, the first two triple hybrids were released, fulfilling a long-sought goal: the introduction of truly red-flowered hybrid crape myrtles (‘Arapaho’ and ‘Cheyenne’) with disease resistance. This National Arboretum breeding program continues to use names of Native American tribes, though not all of the introductions so named are hybrids; the first six cultivars were purely Lagerstroemia indica. Lagerstroemia indica, commonly known as crape myrtle, is an upright, wide-spreading, multi-stemmed, deciduous shrub or small tree in the loosestrife family. It typically grows to 15-25’ tall. It is native from the Himalayas through southern China, southeast Asia and Japan, but has naturalized in the U.S. from Virginia to Arkansas south to Texas and Florida. An additional common name is Lilac of the South in reference to its popularity in southern gardens (USDA Zones 7-9). Key ornamental features include long bloom period, exfoliating bark and superb fall color.
