Seefeldt, Carol
About Carol Seefeldt
Dr. Seefeldt is honored with this crape myrtle because of her contribution to early childhood education and the work that she performed as a professor of human development at the University of Maryland Institute of Child Study from 1971-1999. During her time at the university she was honored with the Distinguished Scholar Teacher Award. Outside of her excellent teaching, Dr. Seefeldt published twenty-one books and more than one-hundred fifty scholarly research articles for teachers and parents. You can find this tree in front of the Center for Young Children on North Campus at UMCP.
Written by and photos taken by summer 2024 education intern Sydney McVicker
https://www.gryphonhouse.com/authors/carol-seefeldt
About this crape myrtle
This tree dedicated to Carol Seefeldt is located in the garden bed at the main entrance of the Center for Young Children. It is a crapemyrtle (sp. Lagerstroemia). The crapemyrtle is an upright, wide-spreading multi-stemmed deciduous shrub. Its native range is from the Himalayas to southern China, southeast Asia and Japan, but it now grows in the US from Virginia south to Texas and Florida. The crape myrtle grows to heights and spreads of 6-25 feet. The tree is known for its long bloom period, light pink-gray exfoliating bark, fall color and showy, naturally rose to red flowers with crimped petals that bloom in the summer. The flowers give way to long-persisting round seed capsules. Leaves are elliptical shaped and thick, leathery leaves emerge light green with a tinge or red, are dark green when mature and turn yellow to red in autumn. As for the common name, crepe refers to the crepe paper-like inflorescences (a group or cluster of flowers) and myrtle refers to the bark and foliage features similar to the myrtle.
https://www.missouribotanicalgarden.org/PlantFinder/PlantFinderDetails.aspx?taxonid=282496
