Honey bee in the Crape Myrtle

Horticulturists and home owners alike love the crape myrtle with its summer blooms available in every shade from deep red, through pink to white, and dark purple to pale lavender. In addition, the crapemyrtle aphid, is the most important insect pest in the mid and lower south. It is host specific to crape myrtle so it does not feed on any other plants Crape myrtle aphids and their sugar laden honeydew serve as food for twenty to thirty species of beneficial insect predators (good bugs that feed on other bad bugs) and countless bees and wasps. The crape myrtle flowers also attract and provide nectar and pollen to many important pollinating bees.

At this time of year, the crape myrtle is glorious and can be seen everywhere in the south, filling the eye with it's beauty and the ear with the soft buzzing of contented insects. Later in the year it becomes untidy and messy, scattering petals like a manic guest at a wedding, and dropping unsightly, squishy black seed pods to be trodden in by anyone passing. By the end of August, it looks like an overblown, blousy middle-aged blonde after a heavy night out; mascara smudged, roots showing and a little too much skin on view for someone of her age; but we remember how gorgeous she was in her youth, and love her nonetheless