Show #50/4611 - Early Season Color

Proper Pruning Technique For Crepe Myrtle

Spring is one of the best times to prune deciduous trees and one of the most frequently asked questions from our viewers is how do I prune Crepe Myrtles. Jim has some particularly good examples on this property thus is a great person to ask. Some of his Crepe Myrtles appear to have not been pruned at all, some appear to have had some intermediate pruning, yet others seem to have been cut more severely. What effects his decision as to how to prune a Crepe Myrtle? Jim likes for Crepe Myrtle to be to be more in a natural form. He likes to take out the inside limbs, let the plant grow up and feature the trunks. He shows us a Natchez Crepe Myrtle, it has beautiful cinnamon bark and he wants to make sure that the blooms that are up on the top get a lot of sunlight. Crepe Myrtle blooms on new growth so if you let the plant grow taller it will put out new growth and that is what it will bloom on. Same thing if you cut the plant down lower, that new growth will too produce the blooms. Jim believes that people need to think about where they are going to put the Crepe Myrtle in their landscape. For example a miniature or dwarf Crepe Myrtle would work well for a smaller home. For a larger residence one can use the taller Natchez Crepe Myrtle. So everyone should think about Crepe Myrtles and the size of the Crepe Myrtle before planting.