Stop Crepe "Murder"...

[stevenpensacola]

Please please please don't do this to your crepe myrtles:

http://grumpygardener.southernliving.com/grumpy_gardener/2009/02/what-concerns-p.html

http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/gardens/crepe-murder-00400000005718/

http://www.southernliving.com/home-garden/gardens/stop-dont-chop-crepe-myrtles-00400000005585/

Isn't this much prettier?

 

[NotUrsula]

You do realize, don't you, that the Yankees on this board are not going to know what on earth you're talking about?

One of the most depressing things about moving to the midwest has been the realization that up here, Crepe Myrtles are not trees. They usually grow to about 4 feet tall, if that, and die back each winter. I miss Crepe Myrtle TREES so much <sigh>

Up here, this particular horticultural travesty is more often perpetuated upon Bradford Pear trees, so that they will be perfectly ... pear-shaped.
My MIL has it done to hers every year; in 20 years I haven't been able to talk her out of it.

 

[Tess]

You do realize, don't you, that the Yankees on this board are not going to know what on earth you're talking about?

One of the most depressing things about moving to the midwest has been the realization that up here, Crepe Myrtles are not trees. They usually grow to about 4 feet tall, if that, and die back each winter. I miss Crepe Myrtle TREES so much <sigh>

Up here, this particular horticultural travesty is more often perpetuated upon Bradford Pear trees, so that they will be perfectly ... pear-shaped.
My MIL has it done to hers every year; in 20 years I haven't been able to talk her out of it.

Yep, the midwest version of Crepe Myrtle is a bush, not a tree. I Crepe Myrtle trees when in full bloom! I'm going to miss that this year since we are going in October rather than our usual June and October trips.

 

[mdsoccermom]

Crepe myrtles are my favorites. Houses all over my neighborhood have them and they are stunning. I want to plant some in my yard.

 

[LuvOrlando]

Let me start by saying I have never done this myself. But I used to live next door to the nicest little old lady who adored her yard and did this to her trees so she could keep otherwise giant trees in front of her home a manageable size and when they would bloom they made the most perfectly shaped trees I've ever seen. I have read about controversy over this kind of pruning in books and seen it on Gardening shows before and frankly, don't have much of an opinion on it either way, but why the uproar? Yes, they did look silly during the winter but she had those trees 50 years so the practice didn't hurt them.... I don't get the hullabaloo. How is it any different from any other kind of topiary? Espalier? Bonsai? Are all forms equally upsetting? No flames, just curious.

PS- the trees you guys are talking about are just lovely, I can't wait for the first buds of spring.

 

[BalooTheBear]

See that a lot here. Not sure why they do it.

I think they look so much better with just a trim..... All landscaping businesses here all call it the same thing - Crepe Murder....

 

[ilovejack02]

I just watched several of my neighbors prune everything back. DRIVES ME CRAZY !! I love my huge gorgeous Crepe Myrtles, they look just like the third picture in your post.
I am with you on this one Steve !

 

[PaulaSB12]

And there was me thinking the tread was about pancakes.

 

[sandramaac]

OMG I LOVE CREPE MYRTLES--every year on our vacation drive from NJ to NC they line the roads from VA to NC. The tree types and the bush types. I have had our landscaper comb all the southern NJ trying to find the tree kind for my property, but to no avail. I love this tree!!

 

[minniecarousel]

We have them out here on theWest Coast. We don't scalp ours.

 

[sorcerormickey]

EVERYONE around here does that, but we just give ours a little trim. And you know what? Everyone else's looks a million times better than ours.

 

[stevenpensacola]

See that a lot here. Not sure why they do it.

I think they look so much better with just a trim..... All landscaping businesses here all call it the same thing - Crepe Murder....

I think the folks that do don't know why they do either...they do it because they see someone else do it.

 

[Conservative Hippie]

And there was me thinking the tread was about pancakes.

Me too! MMmmmm...crepes....

 

[rainy~daze]

Let me start by saying I have never done this myself. But I used to live next door to the nicest little old lady who adored her yard and did this to her trees so she could keep otherwise giant trees in front of her home a manageable size and when they would bloom they made the most perfectly shaped trees I've ever seen. I have read about controversy over this kind of pruning in books and seen it on Gardening shows before and frankly, don't have much of an opinion on it either way, but why the uproar? Yes, they did look silly during the winter but she had those trees 50 years so the practice didn't hurt them.... I don't get the hullabaloo. How is it any different from any other kind of topiary? Espalier? Bonsai? Are all forms equally upsetting? No flames, just curious.

PS- the trees you guys are talking about are just lovely, I can't wait for the first buds of spring.

If the neighbor always had them cut to the same point, so it formed a "knuckle" at that point then it's a old, acceptable pruning practice called pollarding.
If you just hack it to any point you feel like, or below where it knuckles, it is topping and is terrible for tree health. You've cut off its buds, or where the new buds will form, and triggered new, fast, weak growth from secondary buds throughout the tree. If performed on a regular basis, topping will eventually kill the tree.

 

[arminnie]

My gardener did that I guess because it is just easier. I am so not into the yard so I really didn't care. As long as the grass was cut and the leaves removed I was okay. I literally could go weeks if not months without even stepping into the backyard. Or even walking into the formal living room that opened out into the back.

I am now in a condo and so much happier not having to deal with the landscaping. I have beautiful views, trees and more open space that I don't have to touch.

Crepe myrtles are very pretty but kind of invasive. They kept sending up new suckers and volunteers.

 

[pilotwife_02]

And there was me thinking the tread was about pancakes.

Guilty here as well!