I had never seen Crape Myrtle before I moved to the Mid-Atlantic region of the U.S. Now I love it, but only in the Southeast. It grows in California, but looks out of place there. Not sure why. Probably the same reason palm trees look silly in the D.C. area. Plants need to suit their surroundings, don’t you think?
Anyway, here are three different shades:
Pink, my personal favorite. Deliberately overexposed for a high-key look.
Purple. This one is starting to fade, but you can still see the lovely color.
And white, which is starting to grow on me. Not literally, of course. It also comes in red, but I haven’t seen one in the area.
Crape myrtle, or Lagerstroemia, is part of the Loosestrife family, and was originally spelled “Crepe myrtle,” because of the crepe-like blooms. According to Wikipedia, it was “named after the Swedish merchant Magnus von Lagerström, who supplied Carolus Linnaeus with plants he collected.” Linnaeus being the famous Swedish botanist, physician, and zoologist.
Hope your week’s going well so far….
{carole}
Pearls & Prose 
I like the pink best as well. The playing of the sharpness in the foreground against the fuzziness (bokeh?) in the background is really good. Superb work as always, Ms. Pearl!
Yes, that’s bokeh! Thank you, as always. 🙂
Ah..I’ve seen these plants around my neighborhood, but never knew what they were called. I do like the white ones. They look so dainty and delicate.
They really are delicate.
That first shot is so gorgeous.
I have a feeling I have the whte ones on my balcony. I bought a pack with different seeds where you don’t really know what you get and some flowers are lovely. The scent is quite intense.
Unfortunately, ours don’t have any fragrance. Yours may be something else, Caroline.
I can’t decide which I like better: the pink or purple.
Hey you, how are things? I’ll be sending an email in a few minutes.
First time I visited my sister in Dublin, Georgia it was the scent of crepe myrtle that captivated me.
Lovely pics, Carole. It takes a ‘good eye’ to know when high-key tones work effectively, and they certainly do in your first shot (my fav).
Thanks, Cheryl. 🙂 Wish ours had scent.
I’ll have to ask my sister … there was such a mixture of new woodsy scents in the air. When I asked (we were in her convertible) she mentioned 3 types of trees that combined for the ‘perfume’. Perhaps crepe myrtle wasn’t one of those? Homework time.
There could be different species too?