Zen and the art of crape myrtle pruning

Zen and the art of crape myrtle pruning.

Of all the questions I am asked about landscaping and gardening, I think most frequently asked is about how to prune crape myrtles.  While thinking about the complex answer to this question, I have come up with the idea that we should talk about “shaping” the plant instead of “pruning” or “cutting back”.  Learning to grow a plant is one thing, shaping it is an art form.

I guess that the first part of the answer is that a crape myrtle will grow just fine without any pruning at all.  It may turn out to be a large bush or it may turn out to be a tall tree.  In the deep south, these plants are commonly grown as shade trees.  They will become rather large if left untouched—and if that’s what you want, leave it alone.  If you want a heavy blooming, well shaped accent tree for your yard, then the following information may be helpful.

You may wish to review the basics of pruning at another one of my articles which explains what happens to the plant when it is pruned. “The simple basics of pruning-pruning as an art form”.  Also keep in mind that crape myrtles bloom on new growth and that the bloom seems to be regulated by heat. This means that the more new growth shoots there are on the plant when it gets hot, the more flowers you will have.

The most commonly desired shape is that of several trunks (multitrunk) with no growth to a certain height and topped off with a canopy.  Let’s look at how this is accomplished.  Here is a group of plants that haven’t been worked on in a couple of years.

To begin, study the plant carefully. Look at the bottom of the tree and take out any undesired vertical trunks.  Common practice calls for the tree to have three or five trunks.  It also works, as shown here, to have quite a few main trunks, but of about the same size.

After taking out any undesired vertical trunks, look at the top of the tree.  Choose a desirable height and cut the tops of the plants so that 6 or 10 inches of wood is sticking up above a fork.

This gives the plant much more opportunity to put out new shoots and new shoots are where the blooms come from.  The little balls that you see in the picture below are old seed pods which should all be trimmed also.

After taking out the undesired trunks and pruning the tops, look at the remaining trunks and remove all of the small side shoots.  This can be done by cutting or breaking them off.  Breaking them off seems to work best, but cutting will be necessary on the larger stems.  Try to cut as close to the tree trunk as possible.

In the large nurseries where the plants are produced for market, the side growth is removed several times a year by what is called “field stripping”.  This is done by wearing heavy gloves, gripping the trunk, and sliding the hand down over the trunks to break off any undesired growth.

If you have come anywhere close to following these instructions you will have a beautiful plant with lots of blooms for the spring and summer. Whenyou get through, your project should look like this: