I have been looking for images of old large Crape Myrtles ( Lagerstroemia ) with limited success. On one of my many trips to local tree nurseries in my area I decided to stop by one I haven’t been to. After walking around and finding no candidates at the moment, although they had quite a few Texas sage which piqued my interest, I was approached by an employee. She asked if I needed help and started talking to me about bonsai. We parted ways but she came back asking if I wanted to see “something cool” well obviously my answer is absolutely! She pointed me towards the bayou to an amazing site, she claimed it was the largest crape myrtle in North America. There was a “Scientist” that came out measured and triangulated it and said as much. I am not claiming it is, I have done a little research and have found no real information on crepe myrtle sizes in North America. All I know is it is the biggest one I’ve seen by far. Notice in the pictures the base its “muscling” and the branching is stunning. I also take note of the dead wood, it is throughout the tree and there is also a few branches that have a live vein with dead wood, I never even thought of that as an aspect of crepe myrtle design.
I find it amusing that I have just started researching old crepes and happened to walk up to maybe the largest one in North America. I guess Mirai’s serendipity is contagious… I hope you all enjoy the pictures as much as I do.
The tree is located in Shreveport, Louisiana
