Lagerstroemia indica 'Conlagras'

Lagerstroemia ‘Bellini Raspberry’ on Low water in August 2019 at UC Davis. Photo: SK Reid.

Summary

South Coast Research & Extension Center (South Coast REC/SCREC) is located in Irvine California, this site has a sandy loam soil and plants are irrigated with reclaimed water. UC Davis is located in Davis, California, this site has a silty clay loam soil and plants are irrigated with potable water. More information about the field sites is located in the Nuts & Bolts section.

Bellini® Raspberry is an ultra-compact version of the common Lagerstroemia shrubs on the market. This cultivar has orange-pink new growth and magenta-pink flowers. At open house events at UC Davis the most frequently mentioned aspect of Bellini® Raspberry was its smaller size relative to the more commonly grown shrub cultivars. While some were concerned about the size, one participant remarked that the small size was a strong selling point for them as they couldn’t fit a larger crape myrtle in their garden, but they would consider growing this variety as a potted plant. At UC Davis, there was no difference between treatments in the ratings data collected, except that the low and high irrigation levels had higher flowering rates overall than the moderately watered plants (Table 12a). At UC Davis a significant difference in the relative growth rates between the high treatment compared to the moderate and low treatments was observed over the deficit period (Figure 7b). While maximum growth for this cultivar will be achieved on high water, due to the lack of difference in aesthetic ratings, we recommend Bellini Raspberry be irrigated on low water in WUCOLS zone 2.

At South Coast REC the plants were impacted by herbicide drift which stunted their growth and negatively affected their quality ratings (Table 12c), and since all treatments were not exposed equally to the herbicide, this confounds the statistical analysis. Over the deficit period there was a significant difference between the relative growth rates of the high and intermediate treatments (Figure 7d). During the same period there was a significant difference between the moderate and low treatments in the foliage and overall appearance ratings. In both the growth measurements and aesthetic ratings, differences were not observed on a monthly level. Based on our findings at South Coast Bellini Raspberry should be irrigated on moderate water in WUCOLS zone 3. However due to the drift issue, researchers would welcome testing either this cultivar again or a related variety in the future.

Growth and Quality Data

Click Here for Complete Data Set