Sacha wrote:

Like Crepe Myrtle it's indeed said not to be hardy, but I always thought it
was because of the NY experience. I also admired the C.M. around La Rochelle,
and am determined to grow one at some point. I've heard there is a hardier
cultivar, but have never found out which one it is.

I can't help but I'll ask David P if he know. La Rochelle is what Channel
Islanders call 'around the corner' and it makes a considerable difference as
to climate.

A very late addition admittedly, but I've just been scurrying through
the last month for tid-bits of interest (to me), whilst quaffing very
large glasses of vintage port opened in celebration of Sacha's new
family arrival. (Any excuse really, but this was a much better one
than normal!)

I grew Lagerstroemia (Crepe Myrtle) with very mediocre success outside
in the Midlands where it suffered varying degrees of die-back in winter
and never managed to flower. That was in the '70's. A few years ago,
Sacha & Ray gave me a flowering plant of the lilac-mauve variety 'La
Mousseline' after a trip to France and it has grown very well here.
Admittedly flowering has been sporadic and on a couple of occasions it
has failed to flower at all. I decided earlier this year that it had
become far too 'gangly' and was in desperate need of a hard prune. It
responded by growing far more vigorously than ever before and flowered
prolifically in August and September. I'm sure it can cope with winter
cold, but it needs lots of summer heat if it is to perform well. This
year we had plenty of that and the Lagerstroemia responded accordingly.

We brought a couple back for us and for David
Poole and I think his did pretty well in his v. sheltered, walled garden
whereas ours sulked and only do anything in the greenhouses.

Mine never sulked, but really cutting it back hard tought me that it is
best given fairly brutish treatment. I think the heat build-up here
has also helped. It can become tremendously hot even on a so-so day
and 36 - 38C temps are no rarity, nor are night time mins of 21C
between June and September. Sad anorak that I am, I keep a daily
record throughout the year and during this past summer the average
temperature between May 31st and Sept. 1st was 21C with the average min
of 17C and average max of 27C for those months. Nuff of that, but
suffice to say it was very hot out there and growth rates on all of the
sub-tropicals was phenomenal.

Interesting. Ah, for a walled garden...

David's is minute but a wonderful example of what can be done to create a
micro climate.

Well, yes until everything does as you hope ... and then there's the
problem of excessive growth and what to do with it.

I remember him telling me that one Christmas Day he'd picked
his own oranges to make orange sauce for the roast duck!

Well, I've been picking mini-limes for V&Ts and garnishing chilli over
the past 6 weeks. Looks as though the next oranges won't be ready
until the summer. Can't have everything I suppose ;-)

Now where's that bottle of Taylors '85 gone? Oops - Ido toda!