Summer's Drama Queens Take the Stage

I grew up driving Victoria Avenue almost every day of my life. Oddly, my first real consciousness of crape myrtles came as a young adult. I was driving my dad’s aunt Nan, who was in town from Texas, down Victoria Avenue on the way to my granddad’s funeral. We were making our way toward the church when she started admiring the trees. Pink blooms, deep purple clusters and brilliant reds lined the street. Then we hit a stretch of white myrtles.

"They really made a mistake with those white myrtles," she said.

I saw what had been around me all along. Riverside in summer is crape myrtle city. Every street has them. Every shopping center. Every front yard. The blooms come in white, pink, red and purple. The trees are everywhere: small ones in apartment complexes, tall ones in old neighborhoods, neat rows along the main roads.

Victoria Avenue is different though. The sheer number of trees makes it something else. Franz Hosp planned it in 1892. He planted seven miles of color. When the crape myrtles bloom, driving the avenue is like nothing else in the city. Block after block of planned blooms. The colors seem to shimmer in the heat. It’s more than landscaping. It’s bigger than that.

The real drama happens in winter. Every year the trees go completely bare. They look dead. Even people who have lived here for decades find themselves checking their trees, wondering if this is the year they finally died. The bare branches give you nothing, no sign of what’s coming.

Then spring hits. Almost overnight, green shoots appear. Leaves unfurl fast. Those same dead-looking trees suddenly explode with flowers. It happens every year but it still surprises you. You need faith to keep a myrtle in your yard.

I didn’t understand Aunt Nan’s ill will for the white flowers. I still drive Victoria Avenue almost every day and I love to see the trees flower. If you don’t have a reason to travel Victoria Avenue every day, grab a cold drink and take a little drive. Crape myrtles in bloom are as valid a reason as any.