Lagerstroemia indica "New Orleans"

'New Orleans' is a purple-flowered dwarf crape myrtle from the Dixie Series, a group that Michael Dirr, in his Manual of Woody Landscape Plants, describes as the miniature weeping crape myrtles for their low, softly cascading habit. The summer flowers are the rich violet-purple that gardeners rarely find at this small scale, crinkled and crepe-textured, borne in profusion across a mound of no more than two to three feet.

Crape myrtle belongs to the loosestrife family (Lythraceae) and comes from China, Korea, and the Indian subcontinent, grown across the American South as the lilac of the South for the long, generous bloom that carries the hottest weeks of the year. In 'New Orleans', that famous summer performance is compressed into a dwarf, weeping form small enough for a container, a low border, or a rock garden, with flowers a deep purple that reads almost jewel-like against the green foliage.

The trailing, mounded habit makes 'New Orleans' especially good spilling over a wall, tumbling from a raised bed, or planted at the front edge of a sunny border where the cascade of purple can be seen in full. In a large pot on a patio or terrace, this little crape myrtle brings weeks of vivid color to a small footprint and asks very little in return.

Grow 'New Orleans' as crape myrtles like best: full sun for the strongest color, well-drained and reasonably fertile soil, and open air to keep the leaves clean. Deadhead spent flowers to stretch the season, tidy lightly in late winter rather than butchering the plant, and shelter container specimens from hard freezes at the cold edge of the range.