Lagerstroemia indica "Pixie White"

'Pixie White' is a true miniature crape myrtle, a low, compact selection that trades the usual upright tree for a small, spreading, often weeping mound. Through the warm season the plant covers the fine green foliage with clear, clean white flowers, the crinkled, crepe-textured blooms that name the whole clan, at a scale that fits the smallest garden.

Crape myrtle belongs to the loosestrife family (Lythraceae) and hails from China, Korea, and the Indian subcontinent, long grown across the American South, the lilac of the South, for a bloom season that runs through the hottest weeks of summer and into fall. 'Pixie White' delivers that same long white show on a plant only a few feet tall and wide, low enough to tuck into a container, a narrow bed, or the front of a border.

The neat size and clean white color make 'Pixie White' a quiet, versatile piece, easy to place where a larger crape myrtle would overwhelm. Use the plant in a big patio pot, as an edging along a path, in a rock garden, or massed as a low, flowering groundcover in a hot, sunny spot, and let the white flowers cool a bright summer scheme.

Grow 'Pixie White' as crape myrtles prefer: full sun for the fullest bloom, well-drained soil, and good air circulation, which keeps the foliage clean and the flowering strong. Deadhead spent trusses to prolong the display, tidy lightly in late winter without resorting to crape murder, and shelter container plants from hard freezes at the cold edge of the range.