Spring is in the air! I am so glad to see trees blooming and starting to put on leaves, and I cannot help but stop at almost every nursery I see to check out their plant selection. Unfortunately, springtime brings out terrible violence in the hearts of some gardeners, and they take it out on poor unsuspecting crape myrtles. I have already witnessed several crimes this year, and I wish I could hand out tickets for the gardeners and landscape crews who insist on the crime of Crape Murder.
Crape myrtles, Lagerstroemia indica, originally come from China and were introduced to Charleston in the late 1780’s by Andre Michaux, the plant explorer and botanist to King Louis XVI. The flowering trees thrived in the warm environment of the Southern United States. Now they are one of the most popular ornamental trees in the US, loved for their showy blooms, interesting bark, and beautiful structure.
Crape myrtles are tough and well-adapted to Central Texas. They have very few pests, with the exception of aphids and the relatively new Crape Myrtle Bark Scale, and they do not need supplemental irrigation. Crape myrtles come in a variety of sizes, from dwarf varieties that grow to three feet tall to large varieties that reach 30 feet. They also come in a wide variety of colors from pink to lavender to white to red. Newer cultivars have dark, almost black, leaves that stand out in the landscape.
Crape murder refers to the practice of “topping” or severely pruning crape myrtles, and it has been a garden trend for at least 40 years. The common thought is that it makes the tree produce bigger blooms, but now many people do it just because everyone else does. This practice is not recommended by any horticulturist or arborist. In fact, severe topping of crape myrtles creates ugly scars, weak limbs, and new crevices in the branches for pests to live.
There are a few times when pruning a crape myrtle is appropriate. You can prune the suckers that grow from the base to help shape the crape myrtle. Prune the suckers at ground level. You can also prune if branches are crossed and rubbing or are touching a structure or roof. Those are the only situations when it is necessary to prune a crape myrtle.
If you need to prune a crape myrtle that has grown too tall near a house, the recommended practice is to cut it down to the ground and let it grow back up from the ground. Choose three to five of the suckers that come up from the ground and train them to grow into new trunks. Another option is to remove the crape myrtle and plant a shorter variety that fits better in your space.
This year, if you are correcting the damage from previous incidents of crape murder, choose two or three sprouts from each stub and remove all other sprouts. This will allow the remaining sprouts to be stronger and allow more airflow in the canopy of the tree.
If you are planning a landscape this spring, be sure to check out the website for the Crape Myrtle Trails of McKinney at https://crapemyrtletrails.org/. They have a complete list of varieties, or you can see a list of crape myrtles organized by size. Be sure to pick a size that fits your space and enjoy your low-maintenance flowering tree.
For more information about lawn and garden topics, contact Kate Whitney, Williamson County Horticulture Extension Agent, at 512-943-3300.
