Hi Brandon,

Thanks.

I'm getting more and more sold on Crape Myrtles. Beautiful trunks (looking nice year round), and they bloom big when most things are wilting under the July/August heat.

I was worried about their ability to tolerate 13 degrees (this past winter), and their ability to tolerate the perpetual wet days that we had over the past couple months. They came through great! No visible damage, no mold.

I'd love to create a shaded "Crape" garden in the yard with these guys. This would also remove the burden of the grass lawn. The Natchez seem to be just the ticket, but I would be open to other varieties. After buying my red "Dynamite Reds", I'm realizing that I'd actually prefer the lavender colors.. which sort of surprises me... maybe I'm getting older and less into the "dazzle" of red.

I go back and forth on the spelling (schizophrenic) because I was once harshly warned about the spelling. So, I know to beware of one of the spellings, but I forget which one was so wrong.

Ok, so "Crape" it is.

Kelton

Just google 'Crape Myrtle Society'. If you google 'Crepe Myrtle Society', a link to the Crape Myrtle Society pops up to correct you. No biggy though; it seems there are fewer and fewer people that even know how spell it correctly these days.

If you do decide to plant them relatively close together like at UT, you should plant varieties that are approximately the same size together. You wouldn't want a short variety to be overtaken by taller ones around it.

I like to trim mine as they grow to encourage height, at least on the smaller younger ones. I limb up the crape myrtle until it gets to my desired branching height (around 4 foot somewhere) then I let it start branching. I like keeping the trunks limited to 3 or 5 trunks to grow into more of a multibranched tree form. I noticed that last year when the deer came through and ate the blossoms from my crape myrtle that it quickly formed new buds for blooming.

Sounds like a neat idea! By the way any trimmings to take off the crapes can be rooted easily in a glass of water or in rooting medium. You don't need rooting hormone for crape myrtles although it might speed the process up a couple days.

I just remember that CrEpes are for Eating! E for eating.

On the trimmings... really?

I haven't tried, but would love to be able to mass produce these guys.

BK

But why isn't it "crepe", like the crepe paper the flowers resemble?

Heck if I know why any of the easily misspelled words in our crazy language are spelled the way they are. Maybe the derivation has something in common with the crape material that's "a black silk or cotton material with a wrinkled surface." My guess is that both spellings have a common root, but I don't know if anyone really knows the whole story. I think I've read that 'crepe' came from French. Maybe 'crape' came from some other origin.

I do know it's beneficial to spell it correctly though if you are doing a google search for info on this plant. Using 'crepe' gets mostly amateur results. Almost all scholarly articles, botanical gardens, etc use 'crape'.

"E is for eating!"

Love that!!

I read up on trimming crApe (LOL) myrtles this past year, and the advice I read most often was to trim in late February/very early March. Sources advised that trimming in summer was likely to trim off next year's blooms. ? Of course, if you are just limbing up it would be OK to do that anytime, I suppose.

I'll just skip trimming the blooms I guess.

I'm definitely trying to prune for nice looking trunks... not wanting to see a bunch of off-shoot limbs until well above my head.

Connie,

I think crapes flower on new wood so even if you prune something off you aren't hurting the blooms for next year.

Found a good article about pruning crape myrtles.

I have a very large white one on the corner of our house. It was planted about three feet from the corner (good going, people). I would love to keep it, but it is so old and way too large for the space, I'm afraid it may eventually have to go. I tried pruning last year, but I just can't figure a way to do it without having an unnatural-looking tree. :( It's been repeatedly topped by previous owners.

Late winter/early spring pruning did seem to help blooms this year, though. Last year was pitiful. I think it had a total of three blooms.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pruning Crape Myrtles

Connie,

I'd be tempted to cut it to the ground and let it regrow. Or you could root a few cuttings from it this year and remove the whole tree next year. Then replant the cuttings in a better spot.

Hmmmm. Maybe letting it regrow is the ticket! I hadn't thought of that. I'm sure it would. We cut down another that was even closer to the house in another place, and that thing will NOT give up the ghost! Has no idea it's supposed to be gone. LOL