Work at the Floral and Nursery Plants Research Unit at the US National Arboretum, Washington, has produced two varieties of dwarf Lagerstroemia also highly tolerant to powdery mildew. The first new dwarf cultivar 'Chickasaw' was available from US propagators in the late 1990's and now the more recent introduction 'Pocomoke' should be available in sufficient quantities. These cultivars are ideal for cultivation as a compact container plant for the terrace and patio and for bonsai work. In the garden it is suitable for borders, mass beds and as a specimen plant in rock gardens. Due to the rather late flowering of Lagerstroemia, it needs a warm sunny climate but plants can also be forced to flower in the Spring. These two hybrid cultivars are the result of a complex series of crosses between Lagerstroemia indica x L. fauriei and plants of 'Pocomoke' will grow to a height of 50cm and a width of 87cm after 8 years of container culture. The deciduous plants have small, glossy dark green leaves turning bronze in the autumn. Flower colour is deep rose pink in mid to late summer lasting through until the first frosts. Plants perform best in full sun on a heavy loam soil with a pH of 5.0-6.5. In very cold weather, top growth will die back but plants will re-establish themselves the following season. These two cultivars are part of a wide assortment recently introduced from the same crossing program of Dr. Donald Egolf. All are highly tolerant to powdery mildew and are named after Red Indian tribes. In Italy, Vivai Nord lists a number of the earlier introduced cultivars in their catalogue. www.ars-grin.gov/na www.vivainord.it E-mail: viavinord@tin.it