While many crape myrtles do best with cooler weather found north of us, there is one type of this beautiful flowering tree that actually benefits from warmer, subtropical temperatures — the queen’s crape myrtle.
This crape myrtle reigns supreme in flower and leaf size in comparison to its classic cousins. It looks like a regular crape myrtle on steroids with huge 3-inch wide pink/lavender ruffled flowers on 1- to 2-foot-long panicles (clusters) blooming mostly from June through July.
The leaves are also large with lengths ranging from 4 to 14 inches that turn red before they drop for the winter on this deciduous/semi-deciduous tree…