I usually wait until mid-January to write something on this topic but this week I saw my first severe pruning of a crape myrtle for this dormant season earlier this month. So, instead of visions of ...

Now’s the time of year you’re most likely to see naked crape myrtle trees, the unfortunate consequence of improper wintertime pruning. The practice has even been given a not-so-affectionate nickname: ...

Years of improper pruning have taken their toll on this crape myrtle tree. (Alan Windham, University of Tennessee) QUESTION: While visiting a local mall, I noticed the crape myrtles had all been cut ...

As a rule, trees in Northeast Florida can be pruned any time of year. However, the winter months seem to bring out the pruning bug in many folks. Also, any information on pruning would not be complete ...

This improperly pruned crape myrtle tree has undergone “crape murder,” which is when the entire crown of the crape myrtle tree is cut off. Courtesy of Leaf & Limb, a Raleigh-based tree care company ...

Question: I have several large crape myrtles. Can I use a chainsaw to thin them out and prune them back a little? Answer: Feel free to use power equipment to perform needed pruning, but don’t let this ...

Somehow, the belief that crape myrtles should be brutally pruned by cutting off their tops persists, even though it's inaccurate. Crape murder is a term that has been coined to describe this severe ...

Here we go again. I see some folks are already hacking on their crape myrtles. The only pruning crape myrtles ever need (if at all) is thinning the trunks as they are developing to the desired ...