I’d say it’s a tad early

ETA: retailers are very careful pacing the inventory so that they don’t sell out of summer stuff and are left sitting with spring blooming plant material. All my CM have leafed out, so from that standpoint, not early; but from a MKT standpoint, yes.

Home Depot here in Austin had a TON of them the other day. The only catch is all they had was a white variety. They were leafed out and very healthy looking.

Marshall's Grain had their crape myrtles in today. In the size I wanted they had Tonto and Pink Velour. It was a hard decision but I got the Tonto.

I kinda wanted a white one but decided to get one of these while they have it instead of waiting to see if someone gets a white that I like.

Maybe the secret is buying the "Black diamond" crapes big to begin with. Home Depot has a bunch of six footers for $99.00. I didn't check to see what color.

I didn't buy anything while there, but I'm thinking about their large size variegated schefflera for $15.00 if I can decide on a place to put it. A neighbor bought five or six of them last year, planted them along the front of his house along with variegated ginger. They didn't freeze! I couldn't believe it!

The ginger froze to the ground, but the variegated schefflera was fine. Neither were covered during freezing temperatures. Being planted near the house and overhanging oak trees offered some protection, but it didn't help the gingers.

R, that schefflera would look great in my yellow bed, wink.

I have red, white, pink & i think a purple one. Theyve been tortured for years in their nursery pots but come back each year & bloom. Finally getting them in ground this year. I got mine the year they were 1st introduced i think.

Got a pink blooming one today’s at lowes

I got 2 of these pots in front of our house. This is about 4 years old and I got them from Home Depot here in Dallas. They are pretty sturdy its just that is gets infected by mildew and spiders which like laying its eggs on its branches. I fertifilize regularly. Malathion kills the spider, not sure if it is my imagination but the mildew disappeared too. The red flowers were out in bloom just a week ago, now they are all gone. I am planning to take it out of the pot and plant into the ground.

Taken this morning, these have been in the ground for 3-4 years and started out in gallon pots. Blooms just popped last week.

My neighbor's aren't blooming yet but I've noticed a growth spurt in the past month. They are getting taller finally.

I had no idea how to locate this thread. I had taken a picture for Roselee to show some dark CM that don’t look puny.

I have about 4 in ground now & i did notice that one has buds it's also the one that i water the most lol. it's closest to my sweet potatoes, melons & citrus trees so i usually turn the hose on it too when i remember. My 1 in ground out front think i planted it last year is maybe the tallest & it died back to the roots but it also doesnt get as much sun as the others. hoping they all shoot up & give me some shade since my backyard is straight outta Hades in the sun & heat department.

My red ones I planted last year are putting on a ton of new growth. They're not really growing much taller, but there's tons of new shoots and side growth. It seems that these have a much more bushy habit than most CM varieties. I'm going to try to train them as small trees as they get larger none the less though. No blooms yet here, but I'm sure they'll come soon enough.

We planted red ones last year, and they've had a little growth this season, but not much. I wanted them because they seemed to have something of a "rock and roll quality" to them, as bizarre as that probably sounds. I had to treat them for aphids shortly after we sunk them into the ground, and so far so good this year. They haven't bloomed yet, but I think I've seen early indications of blooms coming on. Fingers crossed.

My Lowe’s today has a bunch of Black Diamonds on sale, I think they were $5 each. All looked very healthy. I didn’t get one, instead got two Mandevillas for $1 each. :)

Same @ my Lowe’s

Mine has not grown a lick since I planted it 4 years ago

I've growing

Lisa, how is yours growing?

I went on a tour of the SFA gardens, and they had quite a few in the crepe myrtle demo gardens.

(Some are Black Diamond, others are the original clones marketed as 'Ebony'.)

I love this one with white blooms:

This red one was nice too:

But these purple in the foreground - be still my heart! Too bad I'm not good with photos...

What I like best about this trial gardens is that they get no special care - in fact they mowed just for the tour; the bed had been underwater from the spring floods of the creek. This was end of June. Dr. Creech said they don't treat for CMBS or any other pests.

Loved seeing the dark leaved cultivars at SFA Gardens. I love the one with white blooms too. That, and the purple, seem to blend with the maroon foliage the best. Thank you for posting the photos!

They also have some very attractive red-flowering green-leafed varieties - crowd favorite was one called 'Freedom':

True red color, stems arching with the weight of the blooms.

Bumping this. Mine are still growing at a snails pace. They maybe grew a foot, if that this year. I was hoping that being year 3, this is the year they’d leap. At least they’re healthy and flowering decently.

We ended up pulling ours and replacing them. They just never did well enough to justify their place in the garden. I have recently seen some in nearby yards and they are "meh" looking at best.

I can understand that. I could've planted just about any green leafed variety and they'd easily be twice this size by now. The conundrum is mine actually look decent, they just aren't growing how I'd like. They're supposed to be the vertical anchors where I planted them. That's not the case so far, so things look a bit out of whack.

I'm from NC, but I found this thread because after 5 years my Black Diamond Crape Myrtles could probably fit back into the 1-gallon pot they came in. All of the other Crape Myrtles I have in the landscape thrive and require no special attention. I never want to give up on a plant, but these are so disappointing. They certainly don't deserve the special location the occupy now . . .

I just posted about Black Diamonds in another gardening group I'm in today. It seems those of us with them growing at a snails pace are the norm, not the exception. It also sounds like they actually max out around 6', while the tag says 10-12'. I wish I'd known this beforehand.

If you're looking for a compact CM without a care as to growth rate, these things might work for you. If you're like me and are looking for a vertical accent/screening, these aren't going to cut it. I think it's time to break out the shovel.

I'm up here in far northwestern Virginia. If you guys in Texas and Alabama are having trouble, there's no way the four Black Diamond crepe myrtles I got from Home Depot 3 years ago are ever going to grow. They were on sale and I really wanted the red flowers, but so far, nothing, very little growth and no flowers at all. I think I'm going to pull them and put in something else. Too bad, but I so appreciate the input. I wasn't sure what was going on.

I finally got one with white flowers a couple of years ago and planted it out in the backyard. The first year, it bloomed wonderfully, second year hardly at all. It wasn’t thriving, looked puny, hadn’t grown. After our recent deep freeze, I was sure it was a goner out there.

We dug a new bed in March, and while we had all the tools out, I went over to dig up the CM and throw it out. Once I pulled it up, I decided to plant it in the new bed. Who knows? Let’s see what happens.

Nothing happened for over a month. By then, even my latest-to-leaf CMs had buds, but in the new bed I had a bunch of sticks. I told DH, that's it, it’s coming out for good this time.

It must’ve heard me because as I went over a week later, there was new growth from the ground! It was dead on top, but had sent out shoots. I snapped all the dead off and it’s looking very happy. I’m so glad I waited. :)

Now I see what it’s like for our northern friends who grow crapes, and have them die to the ground every winter!

I'm glad I am not the only one. I was looking for proof I wasn't the only one who discovered the 'new' Black Diamond species experiment was a failure. I am in Louisville, KY- zone 7. I have 4 Black Diamonds (8 crepes in all) and in 3 yrs my Black diamonds have 2, maybe 4 sprigs with leaves but never any flowers. One of my two Mystic Magenta has a few flowers, but the Red Hots have not flowered in 3 yrs since I planted them. I cover them in the winter and i cover them for spring frost. My other brand of crepes are thriving and now are 7 feet tall with profuse flowering. My Black diamonds are lucky to be much over 24-36". And they look more like an overgrown weed. I will still keep trying, but I am about to dig them up and put in a generic crepe like my others since they are doing so well. Sad- because I had high hopes. But from all these other posts, I think I can say it just is a Dud of a brand/breed.

3 years later mine are still great. Now they are between 8 and 9 feet and just started blooming a couple weeks ago, haven't peaked yet.

Wow, B! You actually accomplished what many of us hoped for (and failed at). whats your secret?

@bjb817

No idea. Full sun, heavy clay soil (blackland prairie). I fertilize twice yearly with Osmocote and then monthly with fish emulsion.

Looks like I've had them for 7-8 years and they've grown 7-8 feet from the 1 gal pots they can't in (usually the top foot or so dies back in the winter). Pretty slow by crape myrtle standards but they look good for me.

They look great for sure. You need to get an endorsement deal with the Black Diamond people!

Haha thanks!

I agree; they look fantastic! I'm glad someone is having success! I plan on moving mine this fall. Hopefully they will do better in a different location.

i don't have a black diamond, but i have a dark leaf rhapsody in pink that has never been very goodeither, it is prone to scale. So that is what not to get in a dark leaf pale pink crepe myrtle.

Ms. I believe it depends on the BD variety. The red ones I have thrive and bloom but as far as growth in height, doesnt do well, even by force-fetilizer; but you could put it in competition with another plant and it will try to grow over it. Also, get some gypsum and soften the soil and some dolomite to enrich its uptake of nutrients. Crepemyrtles do like moist soil and sun combination.

Mine bloomed after I last posted. Sorry, my big bossy dracaena spike was photobombing.

Pretty, it looks like white ruffles.

I am in Australia and have been interested in the chat here. Crepe myrtles thrive here in an arid climate. All around town and in my garden. I have perfect conditions for trees everything grows double the size and twice the rate because I live on 30m of river soil on a flood plain. BUT the dark crepe myrtles are not only falling to thrive but slowing looking worse. We have had two very wet years but the soil has perfect drainage. Everything else in the garden around them is thriving. The common consensus here seems to be they are a weak plant. I might wait a year more and if they don't take off I am going to replace them. Thanks for thoughts everyone.

I tend to agree that the Black Diamond series are inherently weak plants.. Hopefully, they will be improved in years to come as the foliage is beautiful.

Unfortunately, my two finally completely died after years of pampering. A late cold snap completely did them in. I love the foliage, but I won't be trying them again until I'm convinced that they have been improved.

Sad to hear you all are having problems with your black diamonds. All of mine are still going well however I don't think they're all the same type. I have at least 2 tall ones & some that are shorter/bushy. I now have a baby that was produced & seems to have the dark leaves too.

Still rocking it

Fantastic! That was what I had hoped mine would look like, but it wasn't meant to be. You have a beautiful garden.

Beautiful, B! It’s hard to get a good picture of mine, among the other plants, but it just started blooming this week. Look at all the buds!

Do you have Sunshine ligustrum next to yours?

That's actually a great picture! The leaves really stand out, and the blooms are looking great! I'm glad a few gardeners are having good luck with their Black Diamonds!

Thank you, chaplain! Can’t wait to see it fully flowered. :)

It’s the only one of mine that dies back in winter, which is fine since it’s in a bed. I’ll get a pic later in the week standing further back — I have a red mandevilla on a tall obelisk to the left, it looks pretty with the crape in the background.

I thought I was doing something wrong! Mine is mostly sticks w a few sad, struggling leaves every year.