I've had a dwarf crepe myrtle "Pink Velour" for a couple of years. Though the tag says it's only hardy to zone 7, so far, so good.

With the unusually warm weather we've had recently, it has leafed out, much earlier than in past years. Now we have a frost advisory tonight. What will happen to the foliage?

Karen

We have encountered the frost and it has left all the foliage on the myrtles dead. Any suggestions on what to do??

We had some cold nights, but little visible frost, and my crepe myrtle didn't miss a beat. It looks good.

Since this is my first and only crepe myrtle, I can't offer any input for you, Ed, sorry.

Karen

Did your crepe myrtle make it? Are your crepe myrtles like our crepe myrtles in the south? Because ours are deciduous and drop all leaves in the winter. They come back each and every year, always blooming in the summer, but profusely every other year. Lots of people trim them, "Crepe Murder", we call it. But they are amazing trees when left alone.

Mine did great, blooming for a couple of months. It's almost finished now, but it has been beautiful. This was in July


Am I supposed to deadhead the blooms before winter?

Karen

Karen, your crepe myrtle is beautiful!! So many blooms! The way we do it here is just to leave it to it's own vices. But dead heading can't hurt it especially since you can reach the flowers. I can't my trees are two stories tall. We trim while the branches are bare in February but if you have snow, I would wait til after the snow.

I planted a small dwarf last year. But it was during the drought and it suffered badly. It is doing better this year.

Our is not in a profuse blooming year but they still give us some color.

Beautiful.

Karen

I'm in zone8b and some winters it seems a lot colder, but without the snow. The crepes come back every year, growing on old branches. Some people cut their heads off every year, then they grow new branches and still bloom well.

Most of my crepes came from rooted cuttings and once they filled out and started to show some size, I realized I would need to trim them to make them grow like a tree. As a bush, they would take over all my pathways. So, I am trying to train them to be trees instead.

I went crepe crazy this summer. One of the local nurseries was having a very very special sale on them. I took 12 of varying colors, shared some with my d-in-law. They seem to love my sand out here and perform well every year.

Molly

I've been thinking of getting some of these for a while now and after seeing the beautiful mid summer bloom on yours Karen I'm convinced. MOBOT says Crepe Myrtle are not reliably root hardy to zone 5, but in z6 I should be able to grow as a "die back perennial". Pretty versatile plant.
http://www.missouribotanicalga...

I didn't realize they came in so many colors.

Thanks, Evan. They are wonderful plants. I sure wish I could grow some of the huge tree types that I've seen in the south.

Karen

Karen - be careful what you wish for

I love my crepe myrtles, but I wish they were not so big. Every few years, I go in and cut off a few major branches.

Beautiful! I'm jealous.

Karen

Not to mention having to trim the new suckers off every couple of weeks or so. (But I really like them, too)

One of my Crape Myrtles died back to the ground so I thought it was dead. When I finally got around to pull it out, I saw tiny new green growth right above the roots. The whole thing came back!

They are very tuff!. My mother had a couple out near the curve in front of her house and the city would come around every three years and trim the tops of the trees to keep them out of the power lines. After that they started suckering real bad, the city tree trimmers ruined the trees in my opinion. I swore if I ever had a Crepe Myrtle I would never trim it. Just saying, IMO.


Karen, is yours a dwarf? I have a white dwarf in my corner garden, it's a slow grower but gets prettier every year.

Yes Susan, mine is a dwarf called "Pink Velour". Tag said it's hardy to zone 7. I guess the plant neglected to read that because I live in zone 6 (But what kills me is that my husband, who bought it for me, still has no idea what zone we're in after 34 years here!)

Teri, when the plant looks dead, do a scratch test. Scratch the wood on a small branch. If the wood under the bark looks dead, test a few more spots. If you find green under the bark, the plant is alive, simply dormant.

Karen

I NEVER trim mine. I just buy the size that I want for the place where I want it and they keep they're size and shape really well without being touched.

Mine only gets ten feet tall and I just love it.

Karen, I am not even sure my husband knows what a zone is.




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