Crepes should do fine. It's standard procedure to cut them to the ground for the people who plant CMs in marginal hardiness zones. They regrow from the roots fine. Where you are they will grow back to trees faster than if you start over with saplings from the store as the roots are established. As for the pines...I'd give replanting them a second thought if you live in a fire prone area. (I'm from a wildfire prone area.) Maybe look at other trees before deciding. It's a true blessing your home was saved. I'm glad your insurance covers the plantings you lost. The land will be quite fertile from the fire so things should establish well.

Thanks. I'll cut the crepe myrtles to the ground and let them grow back. I haven't decided what I'm going to do about the pines that I lost. I'm in the middle of a pine forest, so they are definitely part of the ecosystem here (certainly our soil is more acidic as a result) and I'm not sure I want to alter that too much. I had cut a lot of pines over the last couple of years on my property due to the drought and pine bark beetle damage, so there's that to consider as well. Keeping a clear space immediately around the house is the key I think.

I am so glad to hear that your house is still there. That must be such a heart break to have your whole neighborhood so devastated. The trees might do better from the limbs if you give it a bit more time. I might not cut back till December and see where the life extends too. We still have some growth time left. It might give you more of a clue. BUT if insurrance is going to help you, you might see if an estemate of pruning cost will do for estimation purposes. We are looking to make a fire break around our place also. I am also getting rid of bushes around my house for the time being. I can buy new bushes but a new house is a real headache.

Thank you. It is very painful to drive by all the burned remains of the houses. From what I understand, none of the neighbors who lived in my cul de sac and lost their houses will be returning, which is disappointing as we all got along well. It is now down to one other house and me.

Insurance will cover replacement and re-seeding (not pruning). I can comfortably wait until December or January to see how things turn out. I'll have my hands full aerating, composting, mulching, etc, plus replacing all the tools that I lost in the shed, that I can hold off on the crepe myrtles. Thankfully they aren't near any utility lines, so no one will cut them down before I'm ready to do so.

I still have some boxwoods up against the house. As long as the area is kept well-watered (my gray water comes out there), bushes aren't a threat to the house. The ones I took out were the ones near the base of the pines as I had been instructed in a wildfire prevention course those can act as kindling. I also took out any pines that looked sickly (pine bark beetle and drought have been very hard on them) and in that way created an open space around the house. Unfortunately, I did lose most of my roses, my oleander, etc. It was a wildfire, after all. I have a feeling between the fire and the drought, it will be a rather blank landscape for the near future.