Just because your neighbors butcher their crepe myrtles doesn’t mean you should too.
Here’s how to fix past mistakes and prune them right.
They needlessly reduce majestic crepe myrtles to ugly stumps–in many cases, ruining them forever.
Credit: Ngoc Minh Ngo / Getty Images
Im always shocked by peoples obsession with pruning these plants since it should only happen on rare occasions.
Why Prune a Crepe Myrtle?
Cutting it back to thick stubs each year makes these goals impossible.
Credit:Grace Canaan
A graceful tree quickly becomes a fencepost or hat rack.
Pretty bark never appears.
Each beheaded trunk grows a Medusa-like tangle of spindly whips too weak to hold up flowers.
After all, you’ve got the option to always go back and cut more.
The branch spacing is correct if a bird can easily fly through the center of your crepe myrtle.
February is the ideal month to tackle the task.
This mistake also creates a forest of skinny, whiplike shoots sprouts from the end of each ugly stump.
These whips are too weak to hold up the flowers, so the branches often bend to the ground.
A note on seed pods: It’s okay but unnecessary to cut off old seed pods.
It will bloom just fine.
Removing the seeds can take off the weight so the branches rise up.
Restoring a Butchered Crepe Myrtle
But maybe your sin wasn’t so acute.
In this case, follow our four-step process to get beautiful plants.
Eventually, your crepe myrtle will look beautiful again.
Go and sin no more.
Crepe myrtle trees don’t necessarily require pruning every year.
