I have one, have had it for years, I think it is Zuni. Mine was trained as a tall standard so it isn't multi trunked but it has had no problems what so ever. No mildew, blooms like crazy people always ask what it is.

There is a multi trunked one around the corner that is a different cultivar and really, I like the shape of it better but I'm not ripping mine out.

It is all the hybrids named for Native American tribes which are mildew resistant, if I remember correctly.

Thank you for your response. I'm in Everett, so it's probably about the same conditions.

I found a list at the National Arboretum somewhat helpful for size and color, with lots of Native American names.

Maro

This is very interesting. I'm searching for a small tree (10-20 ft?) to put in a mixed bed in front of our southwest facing porch. I had never thought of a crape myrtle, but it might be just the thing for my space. I hope we hear from other people who have examples in the PNW. I'm in Snohomish, cooler than Portland (which isn't a bad thing on a day like today).

Hot wall with pavement nearby for these to flower every year in western WA. Center for Urban Horticulture, Seattle has several kinds in parking lot island plantings. Haven't heard of any new kinds that require less heat, but they probably have always varied in this respect. At least a few apparently seldom flower here, despite seemingly suitably placement. The hotter the better.

Crape Myrtle would be a decent small tree eventually. Most will do fine in your area.

Probably about the same rate of growth as Harlequin Glory Bower and a tad bit slower than Smoke Tree (for the first 15 years).

Thank you everyone. Bboy, I think I will take a chance on one of the hybrids and hope that the ones hardy for our area, and mildew resistant, will flower, but maybe less than if in an ideal spot. A sunny spot, but only a trellis behind it - but a cement block walk within three feet! :)

mdvaden, clerodendrum has a fast growth rate according to a couple of websites. I assume thatÂs what you meant  that the crape myrtle will grow at a fast rate.

Actually, I can think of a couple of ways to heat up that spot, on the west side of the house with southern exposure. The large trellis behind it has 4" mesh. IÂm thinking I can weave something into a section or two of the trellis. This is a new idea; I would have to experiment to find something not tacky. Bleached bamboo slats? (I never heard of such a thing.) Any ideas? This may be one of those dead end ideas!

Also, there is room for some Âarchitectural slabs in there.

Well, weÂll see. This could be interesting. Of course, a shrub/tree of about 10Â is about all that would fit.

Any comments are welcome, encouraging, skeptical, or brainstorming.

Buy a shrubby Lagerstroemia cultivar in a color you like and plant it in a frost-resistant tub (treated with a sealant or inherently frost-resistant, such as a whiskey barrel) against an unshaded south-facing wall. Choose something else for the open bed. A clerodendrum would be nice, as long as it didn't fill the bed with suckers. Like sumac, black locust or even running bamboo you can get a nightmare of suckering from a clerodendrum or hardly any at all. Disturbing the roots can definitely promote suckering of clerodendrum, I got a forest of them after turning a bed near one here once.

I've never seen a fast growing Harlequin Glory Bower - not in the Pacific NW cool region.

The tallest I've ever seen was about 20' tall in Seaside, Oregon.

The speed listed may depend on where and according to who.

Likewise with crape myrtle - I've never seen one over 25', but then again, many have been top pruned.

Clerodendrum suckers can shoot right up, flowering branches are slower. Tallest crapemyrtles in Seattle all 21'-25' tall, except for one in UW Medicinal Herb Garden >32' high.

Don't mean to hijack Marcia's thread but I have a question about Clerodendrums and suckering. My clerodendrum has suckered for the first time this season (it's going on 12 years old). The sucker has appeared a good 6-7 feet away from the mother plant and does need to be removed. If I dig and remove, how likely is that to encourage further suckering?

And on a similar note, a very old tree-form lilac in another part of my garden has, after some 40+ years, started to sucker madly. Since it is located in a heavily planted area, this is becoming a huge nuisance. Is there anything that can be done - short of removal of the old tree - to discourage this?

I think all you can do is cut the sprouts off, and if you have the time and energy ferret out the creeping rootstocks and remove them. If the lilac is grafted you will want to control all of them, otherwise those near the original trunks should be left for renewal--unless it is being grown as a standard and the vigor of the original top is still good.

Clerodendrum popping up sporadically, against foundations and among other shrubs yards away from the original plant, in the manner of running bamboo or sumacs seems pretty typical here.

Okay okay, I won't put the crape myrtle in that bed!

For a drastic change in thought, how about a small upright conifer for some evergreen? Here's the bed today. There are some vines happening on the trellis, but they're not evergreen.

{{gwi:1082653}}

Since there aren't that many, maybe you would like to say what kinds of plants they all are to facilitate getting just the right suggestion for a good combination. For example, the 'Moonbeam' coreopsis and cape fuchsia would both benefit from a purpleleaf backdrop, say a purpleleaf barberry (not much room available, if you are going to put a small, low-branching tree there these will have to be moved forward as they will not appreciate the shade produced as the tree increases in size).

Okay, I am interested in any suggestions you have.

Yes, the coreopsis and phygelius can be moved.

There are the two viburnum tinus 'Spring Bouquet,' hebe 'Nicola's Blush' at the right; beyond these (not in view) are several heuchera 'Palace Purple' and woolly thyme, which will be over most of the bed. At the left is a mock orange, which can be moved to another bed, and in the foreground is helianthemum 'Chevoit.'

The vines are clematis 'Arabella' and vitis 'Purpurea,' with viola 'Etain' around them.

So, it is kind of a pastel place. I have a lot of grey-green things, and a browny-purple color would not be out of place here in the context of the rest of the garden and with the heucheras. I have a Eupatorium rugosum 'Chocolate,' which looks like a small ninebark diablo with richer color, that I could put there, but that's only about 3 x 3 according to the tag.

Your turn.

Maro

If you make some room maybe a 'Royal Purple' smokebush could be the tall element. Or one of the taller purple barberries, one or two sold as Berberis thunbergii cultivars but actually belonging to B. x ottawensis or maybe B. vulgaris. Larger leaves and more vigorous growth than B. thunbergii. Easy to spot in nursery sizes by their larger leaves.

That's IT! The smoke bush, that is. (Barberries are too prickly for me, though beautiful.)

I notice there are several varieties of cotynus coggyria. Is the 'Royal Purple' the only one worth considering? As soon as there's a choice I have to examine each one, of course.

"Smoke bush" turned up some interesting things on Google, such as "Let's smoke Bush out of office."

Maro

'Royal Purple' is preeminent cultivar. Look for deep coloring and uniformity (where several are on display), variable seedlings have occasionally been sold.

A picture with fake plants -- it might look like this, and I like it.

{{gwi:1082654}}

Well, the leaves look to big. Try this:

{{gwi:1082655}}

That's TOO big, not to big. I hate that. :)

But the smokebush is not too big, make it about the size of three of the fence panels and you are there. After that put the purple heucheras into a drift instead of a row.

Looks good to me. I love the big mass of rich color. I think the purple leaf grape vine will look good behind it.

But, the 'Obsidian' heucheras . . . just after I took this picture, I moved the one on the left a bit so it lined up better! You can figure that out by the lines I have everywhere. What's a drift of three? A triangle? Can I have a drift in this tiny bed?

That's a little golden korean fir just behind them.

The are a lot of empty spaces yet to be filled everywhere.

{{gwi:1082656}}