We plant so much stuff that sometimes we get confused. I labeled this as Crape Myrtle but now we are not sure that is correct. Can anyone help?
Lagerstroemia indica (Crape Myrtle, Crepe Myrtle) Click on the blue link, yours looks a lot like mine.
It doesnt look like my crepe myrtle, but I could have a different variety of it? Mine has red in the leaves.
All my other ones have red leaves also, but only on the ends. This one was eaten by someone down to the ground. Now we see the new growth. It's also more in the shade while the others are in the sun.
Sure looks like crepe myrtle to me. Being eaten down to the ground will encourage the plant to have multiple trunks (CMs are naturally a shrub, trained and pruned to tree or single trunk shape). Our deep pink CM has green leaves that sometimes turn red. The white one is green all the time. Same exposure, same soil. I think the variety has something to do with the redness or lack thereof in the leaves.
My understanding is that the people that owns the patent wrights would make minimal changes when the patent was about to expire and then get a new patent to forbid terminal propagation. I do not understand how they retained the same copyrighted name for a technically different plant.
Don't let the word 'shrub' fool you , ours haven't been trimmed or trained, are multi-trunked and are now between 20-30 feet tall. They are in the H*** strip out front so they can pretty much grow as they will.
My pink crepe myrtle is getting nice and tall, has multiple trunks, and I have never done anything except remove dead limbs. My baby crepe myrtle gets purple flowers, and died back last winter. I thought I had lost it, but it put out new growth and is fine. It is nearly 2 ft tall this summer. I think "shrub" is a misnomer for many plants. Honeysuckle "shrubs" can get very tall. I have one that is much taller than my house, and it makes lots of babies. I call it a tree. A farkle berry "tree" is much smaller than my honeysuckle "shrub", but it is classed as a small tree even though it is related to blueberry "bushes". ? I have some of those growing in the edges of my woods. I just do not think they are consistent on defining what is a "tree" or a "shrub" or a "bush".
Maybe they do get new "patents" on their plants, but where would you ever hear of such news ? I never hear about people/companies getting new patents on their plants, and I would not know if I had a "patented plant" except for my 2 David Austin rose bushes. As far as I know, all of my other plants are fair game for making new starts.
About shrubs vs. trees-- Shrub: A woody plant smaller than a tree, with several main stems arising at or near the ground. Tree: A woody perennial plant, typically having a single trunk growing to a considerable height and bearing lateral branches at some distance... Some shrubs grow to fairly great heights (lilacs, for example) and some trees are fairly short (Wafer Ashes). Whichever you have, just enjoy your plant and call it what you will! And about those patented plants. Growers and breeders can spend upwards of 20 years developing a variety of plant and thoroughly deserve to profit from the knowledge and labor. David Austen is a great example--and his roses are patented. However, a patent only refers to selling the plant. If you want to propagate a plant you have bought, and put it in your garden, the patent police aren't going to come after you. If you take it to the farmers' market and sell it, that's different.
If a plant is Patented the tag will have "PPAF" (plant patent applied for) on it. Patents are valid for about 20 years and can not be renewed. When the Patent runs out then the plant can be propagated by anyone for sale or otherwise. Home gardeners can propagate for their own use but don't take them to sell at any kind of plant sale. Monrovia has Patents on several Echinacea cultivars, each cultivar must be distinctive in some way (color, mature size, etc) for a Patent to be approved. And growers websites will have PPAF in the online information about the plants... http://www.monrovia.com/plant-catalog/p ... flower.php Typically, U.S. Copyrights are for written works, music, websites, photos, artwork, screenplays, software, etc. Trademarks on the other hand can apply to the names of plants (not the botanical name but cultivars). And since a Trademark is assigned to a company or individual person, that Trademark name can be used on as many plants as they want and even different plants. Trademarks can be renewed indefinitely. A plant does not have to be patented to be assigned a Trademark name, when a Patent runs out on a plant it can be propagated by anyone but if the plant also has a Trademark name, the gardener or grower can not use the Trademark name on their plant.
[quote="AAnightowl]Maybe they do get new "patents" on their plants, but where would you ever hear of such news ? I never hear about people/companies getting new patents on their plants, and I would not know if I had a "patented plant" except for my 2 David Austin rose bushes. As far as I know, all of my other plants are fair game for making new starts.[/quote] http://www.uspto.gov/web/offices/pac/plant/ http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-...+myrtle&FIELD1=&co1=AND&TERM2=&FIELD2=&d=PTXT
WOW! What did I do here!!!!! Well, All of mine well be blooming this year for the first time. I can't wait.... Can you see my buds???? Also I'll keep that label on that one in question. Thanks.
Our Crape Myrtle usually freezes back to 6"-8" from the soil. We have had two easy Winters and this year it's the nicest it has ever been. John OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA by tsebmj, on Flickr
