Crape myrtle Dynamite

* Common name: Crape myrtle Dynamite

* Botanical name: Lagerstroemia indica ‘Whit II’

* What it is: Dynamite is one of the cold-toughest of that common Southern landscape tree, the crape myrtle, one rated to tolerate an average central-Pennsylvania winter (down to Zone 6). It produces clusters of salmony-red flowers from July to September and is fairly compact.

Bark is peeling and cinnamon-colored. New foliage is red-green, and fall foliage turns orange-red.

* Size: Can grow 12 to 15 feet tall and 8 to 10 feet across when unusually cold winters don’t kill top growth down to the roots. Can be grown as a multi-stem bush or pruned to a single-trunk tree.

* Where to use: Makes a good upright specimen at a sunny house corner out front. Also good for lining a long, sunny driveway or as a specimen tree in any small front or back yard. Full sun is best.

* Care: Virtually none, other than an annual, early-spring, size-control pruning (if needed). Pruning is best done as new growth sprouts in spring. If an unusually cold winter kills top growth, prune it back to live wood, including the whole way to the ground, if necessary. New shoots should arise from the ground.

A spring scattering of a balanced granular fertilizer is optional. Crape myrtles are very drought-tough once established.

* Great partner: Spreading juniper ‘Blue Pacific’ or ‘Silver Mist’ are good evergreen underplantings. Liriope and leadwort are good groundcover partners.