Wednesday Street Tree #4

Crêpe myrtle

A few weeks back, I teased my new Wednesday Street Tree strand with a post featuring one of the most charming ornamental species being planted right now in the shape of a crêpe myrtle. I said that while this is a climate change resilient tree, it was one that didn’t flower regularly in the UK yet, and that owing to this summer not being particularly hot, it was, I thought, unlikely you’d see one in flower this year.

Ahem… I’ll have to eat humble pie: when I was on my way back from the De Beauvoir Gardeners Show on Sunday afternoon, I was dazzled by just such a tree in abundant crimson flower on a side street in Hackney. Not only was it blooming magnificently, it was late in the season too; in previous years, their flowering might have ended by late September. Interestingly, the street boasts several other crêpe myrtles, but only a couple of neighbouring trees showed a few half-hearted flower spikes. This year we have had a late summer, only in August and September has the weather been settled and warm which may account for the late flowering, but I also wonder why this particular tree has flowered so well. Maybe its position offers a clue. It grows next to a brick wall that must absorb and reflect heat, giving it an advantage over its neighbours.

What is it?

Crêpe (or crape) myrtle
Lagerstroemia indica ‘Violacea’

Where is it?

Southgate Grove, London N1 5BT
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Want to see street trees this weekend?

Join me on Saturday or Sunday on a tour of trees in Hackney (saturday), or Bermondsey (Sunday).

The crimson flowers of our tree. The data tells me it is the ‘Violacea’ cultivar, but I’m not quite convinced, maybe it is ‘Rosea’?