Plant: Tonto - Crape Myrtle

Plant description

Tonto is a hybrid crape myrtle listed by Clemson at about 9 feet tall with a light cream trunk, one of the more compact selections. Crepe paper like flowers open in terminal panicles from July into September above glossy dark green leaves that turn yellow, orange or red in fall, and the thin pale bark peels and exfoliates for winter interest. Plant in full sun in moist, well drained soil; it accepts clay, sand and a wide pH range and resists deer, drought and air pollution once established.

Flowers

Numerous irregular flowers about 1 to 1.5 inches wide with six clawed, crinkled petals that look like crepe paper, carried in terminal panicles 6 to 18 inches long from July into September.

Foliage

Simple leaves emerge green with red tinges and become dark green by summer, smooth and leathery with entire margins, oblong to elliptic to obovate, 1 to 3 inches long, on very short petioles.

Fruit

Six valved dehiscent capsules, brown and about half an inch wide, persisting through winter; the disc shaped seeds are 3/8 inch across and winged.

Bark & stems

Thin, smooth, pale brown to gray bark that peels and exfoliates; stems are green to brown, slender and often squarish with prominent wings.

Native range

Central Himalaya to S. China and Indo-China, Philippines, Japan

Plant details