Poor Pruning of Crape Myrtles

“Crape Murder” In Early February

Hardy cultivars of crape myrtles are best left alone in the fall. Light pruning to remove a broken branch or the seed capsules is ok, but major pruning should wait until early spring.  “Crape murder” is a common practice in the Southeast U.S. and is not recommended any time or place. It involves lopping down tree and shrub crape myrtles to 5-6 feet height. The reason often cited by professional landscapers is that retail merchants want customers to see their signage.

The severe 2013-14 winter caught many landscape companies pruning in January and February. The aftermath was that many crape myrtles died to the ground. Fortunately, most did sucker back up and flower in summer (about 4-6 weeks later than normal). Plants had to be pruned to redevelop their branching habit.

If you must dig one up to transplant, wait until mid-March or later. Fall planting can be risky. Crape myrtles are cheap to replace or to start over. Often a fall or winter transplanted crape myrtle starts off weak, particularly if the previous winter weather has been severe.

Andrew Bunting, plant curator at the Scott Arboretum (campus of Swarthmore College in Swarthmore, PA) lists these cultivars that came through the winter 2013-4 with virtually no damage:

fauriei ‘Fantasy’
fauriei ‘Townhouse’
indica ‘Carolina Beauty’
indica ‘Pink Velour’
‘Acoma’
‘Lipan’
‘Muskogee’
‘Natchez’
‘Osage’
‘Tuscarora’
‘Tuskegee’

In northeastern cities such as Boston, New York, Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore, crape myrtles are rated as hardy perennials and not woody shrubs or trees. Following a severe winter, expect some to dieback to the ground. Some  of the hardiest forms originate from the U.S. National Arboretum. If you desire to trial only 3 or 4 cultivars, ‘Natchez’ and ‘Muskogee’ (tree forms) and ‘Acoma’ and ‘Osage’ (shrub forms) are most reliable.