Irresistible Princess Holly Ann™ Crapemyrtle

Princess Crapemyrtles add permanent, reliable color with lowered maintenance to perennial borders. Princess Holly Ann™ is an irresistible little Princess in a brilliant shade of cherry red, a true mounding dwarf Crapemyrtle with a dazzling period of bloom stretching about three months, from mid-summer through fall.  

Princess Holly Ann™ exhibits a nice, compact growth habit averaging 4 to 5 feet tall by a well-proportioned 2.5 to 3 feet wide with incredible, bright flower color. Smaller-sized racemes of cherry red flowers cover this symmetrical bell-shaped dwarf shrub, creating a mounded effect like the skirt of a doll’s ball gown in garden beds, containers or massed plantings. But don’t let her diminutive stature fool you; because of the Lagerstroemia fauriei in Princess Holly Ann™’s hybrid parentage, she is both more disease resistant and more cold tolerant than straight Lagerstroemia indica varieties of any size.  

Princess Holly Ann™ Crapemyrtle has excellent leaf color throughout the year: her new foliage is copper red, summer foliage is deep green, while fall foliage turns an attractive purplish-red. The Princess Series presented by Garden Debut® is bred by Dow and Linda Whiting for superior flower colors, disease resistance, fall color and cold hardiness, and is named for their four granddaughters. See also Princess Kylie™, Princess Lyla™ and Princess Zoey™. 

For more information about Princess Holly Ann™ Crapemyrtle and other Great New Plants™ from Garden Debut®, visit www.gardendebut.com.

Characteristics Chart

Plant Category: Dwarf deciduous woody shrub

Mature Height: Reaches 4 to 5 feet tall

Mature Width: 2.5 to 3 feet wide

Mature Form: Mounding, symmetrical

Growth Rate: Moderate

Sun Exposure: Full sun

Soil Moisture: Average soil moisture

Soil Type: Moist, well-drained soil

Flower Color: Terminal, crepe-papery, inflorescences of Cherry Red color flowers

Fragrance: Negligible

Flower Characteristic: Graceful, upright, flat-topped racemes

Bloom Season: Profuse bloom in Summer and Fall yields mass display of solid color; sequentially, 60-90 day bloom period

Repeat Bloom: Princess Holly Ann™ is notable for reblooming during the growing season, albeit with smaller racemes, dead-heading increases number of later blooms and extends bloom period

Foliage: New growth is copper-red, summer leaves are shiny, dark green and fall foliage is reddish purple

Fruit pods: Ornamental capsules remain at tips of branches throughout winter

Seeds: 3/16” long, winged

Trunks: Tan and cinnamon brown

Tolerates: Clay soil, drought, air pollution

Landscape Uses: Mixed perennial garden beds, large containers or massed plantings

pH Level: Performs best in 5.0-7.0 range

Climate Zones: 6 – 9; undergoing testing in Zone 5

Landscape Uses: Specimen, in groups, in perennial border, foundation plantings, works well in mass plantings with other late summer blooming plants

Heredity: U.S., Dow Whiting, Nixa, MO