Crepe Myrtle and Butterfly Bushes.

My crepe myrtle is starting to fade from the appearance in this picture, although it still has some blooms. It has been beautiful all summer. You can count on a crepe myrtle to be cheerful thru thick and thin, for months on end. The butterfly bushes under it have pretty much given up this summer4, maybe due to the efficient water gathering of the crepe myrtle. I have watered a couple of times lately, but it was too little and too late to get them into bloom. The Lantanas still soldiers on with a few flowers, but everything else in the understory here is faltering badly.