Varieties — The Complete List

crape myrtles diversity of colors
To show the incredible diversity within crape myrtles, this photograph was taken in a crape myrtle nursery in Celina, Texas, on June 30, while they were in peak bloom of summer. The flower clusters at the top were from varieties growing to mature heights of less than 5 ft., while flowers at the bottom of the photo were from varieties that will grow to be 20 ft. tall and taller.

No one will probably ever have a complete list of all the crape myrtle varieties. There are many cultivars/varieties that are identical to others with different names. Only gene testing could tell us the real facts. In other cases, there are variety names in historic nursery catalogs from decades past, but those varieties are apparently nowhere to be found in the nursery trade today.

Since the Crape Myrtle Trails of McKinney foundation formed in the late 1990s, we have contacted more than 100 wholesale growers and all major botanic gardens and research institutions where work has been conducted with crape myrtles, and this is a very good beginning of a list. New varieties are being introduced each year and the list is growing rapidly. We will try our best to keep it updated.

Miniature/Weeping: less than 3 feet tall

Dwarf: 3 – 5 feet tall

Intermediate: 5 – 10 feet tall

Medium: 10 – 20 feet tall

Tall: more than 20 feet tall

(Unusually spelled names in parentheses are the names by which the plants were patented.)