| Tonya, Take a look at the link below. I think people grow them in St. George, but it's very risky around here. There is a variety they mention that's hardy to zone 6, which is much of this area. Some parts of Salt Lake Valley are zone 7, which is the bottom of their range for the regular varieties. They say they may grow OK in zone 7 but die back to the ground in hard winters -- they'll grow back, but they won't likely get very large here. I do recall seeing a few crape myrtles at Temple Square -- they grew as shrubs, probably because they couldn't get big enough with occasional die back in hard winters. They eventually removed them, so they probably weren't performing as they wished. Anyway, if you have a good microclimate, like a sheltered spot along a south wall of the house, you might make them work, but probably only as small shrubs that can handle an occasional pruning back to ground level when winter kills their above-ground growth. |
Here is a link that might be useful: Crapemyrtle fact sheet
