| Hello, I have a Zuni crepe myrtle that I planted early summer 2005. It is doing great from a growth perspective; almost double in size. It is on the Southwest corner of my house since I am a zone 6B. For some reason it is not flowering at all, I would like to know why, and how I can correct the problem? The only thing I did as far as pruning was cut off the dried flower pod like growth after it was dried up. I did this last early fall. It has had a balanced fertilizer, making sure that there was not too much nitrogen. Please help as I am saddened looking around my town seeing all the beautiful crepe myrtle blooms and I have none. Thanks, Aaron T. |
| It sounds as though your crepe myrtle is doing very well, even if it is not blooming. They bloom best in full sun which you have for it on the SW corner, they also bloom better if adequately watered. (This would be especially important with a new plant for the first few years.) Pruning is limited to deadheading (if desired) and then trimming off any winter damage in early spring, and possibly shaping if needed, again in early spring. (These bloom on new growth of the season so summer pruning would interfere with flowering.) Based on your description it has grown a lot this year, perhaps it has been overfertilized with nitrogen -- this could happen for instance if you fertilized it in addition to regularly fertilizing an adjacent lawn. This would encourage foliage and vegetative growth at the expense of blooms. Too, it may still bud and bloom for you this summer -- it thrives on heat and humidity and summer is not over yet. |
