The end of the summer is here, and it is time for some really big flowers.
The Limelight Hydrangea and Crepe Myrtles (also spelled Crape Myrtles) are on display.
Limelight hydrangeas are showing off all over the Eastern Shore. Huge, greenish-white puffy snow cones appear at the tips of branches filled with dark green leaves. The bushes can reach heights of over 10 feet, but most of us try to contain them by cutting them back every spring. These bushes don’t care what we do to them, they will generously respond with voluminous, cumulus clouds of flowers. The flower heads are so large that some branches bend to their majesty. As if that is not enough, they also make impressive cut flowers. And if you cut them at the right time, they will dry to bring cheer to your home through early winter. A fresh and clean respite from this summer’s relentless heat.
But of course, if you live on the Eastern Shore, this is time for the Crepe Myrtles. Although not good as cut flowers and are known as messy bushes (you don’t want to park your car underneath them or put them near your deck), but they are good for almost everything else.
They are prolific and long bloomers. Their crepe-like flowers combine to appear as large torches ablaze with pink, red, maroon, purple, and white flames. So voluminous are the flower heads that they form a bonfire of color. Where I lived in New Jersey, it was too cold for these towering, majestic bushes. So, I particularly delight in the love that the Eastern Shore has for these beauties.
Just in case their blooms aren’t enough, they are shedding their bark. In many species, the new bark is a warm cinnamon color. Some old bark remains, so the bark becomes a cinnamon camouflage, resembling a paint-by-number living artwork.
The range of colors keeps Crepe Myrtles from being boring. My favorite Crepe Myrtles sport bubble-gum colored flames that contrast beautifully with the small dark green leaves. There is something about that color that reminds me of childhood. Maybe it is the memory of sweet-smelling bubble gum or soothing Pepto Bismol. But there is more.
This color is very close to a shade called Baker-Miller pink.
A controversial study in the 1970s by Alexander Schauss found evidence that this hue reduced aggression in prison inmates. Subsequent studies failed to replicate these findings. But, just in case, the University of Iowa football team painted the visitors’ locker room this color and recently coordinated it with pink lockers and pink urinals.
(I don’t know if it had any impact on games, but it did annoy coaches. University of Michigan’s coach, Bo Schembechler, made his staff cover the walls with paper when the Wolverines played there.)
In 2011, Swiss psychologist Daniela Späth used a shade of pink on prison walls that is even closer to the pink on Crepe Myrtles (called Cool Down Pink). Over a four-year study, prison guards reported fewer aggressive behaviors in prisoners living in the pink cells. Späth also found that the inmates seemed to be able to relax more quickly. One British newspaper reported that while prison guards reported an improvement in behaviors, prisoners disagreed and felt that it was degrading to be put in a cell with these girly colors.
So, who knows. Personally, I am not sure that I would want this color on any wall in my home. But I delight in seeing it on Crepe Myrtles.
Angela Rieck, a Caroline County native, received her PhD in Mathematical Psychology from the University of Maryland and worked as a scientist at Bell Labs, and other high-tech companies in New Jersey before retiring as a corporate executive. Angela and her dogs divide their time between St Michaels and Key West Florida. Her daughter lives and works in New York City.
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