Gardening and More
  • Home
  • Hummingbirds
  • Meetings
  • Maintenance
    • Monthly >
      • January
      • February
      • March
      • April
      • May
      • June
      • July
      • August
      • September
      • October
      • November
      • December
    • Weeds
    • Bed Preparation
    • Pain when gardening
    • Fire Ant Control >
      • Organic
      • Non-Organic
    • Compost Tea
    • Pruning
    • Rose Pruning
    • Fruit Trees
  • Recipes
    • Desserts >
      • Banana Pudding
      • Bread Pudding
      • Chocolate Cobbler
      • Chocolate Sheath Cake
      • Crepes Fitzgerald
      • Pound Cake
      • Rice pudding
    • Salad >
      • Broccoli Apple Salad
      • Chicken Salad
      • Cranberry Salad
      • Hot Chicken Salad
      • Tossed Avocado Do Ahead Salad
    • Soup >
      • Brocolli Cheddar Soup
      • Chichen Enchilada Soup
      • Chicken Soup
      • Corn Chowder
      • Potato Soup
      • Southwestern Soup
      • Vegetable Soup
    • Vegetables >
      • Crockpot Baby Potatoes
      • Fried Green Tomatoes
      • Green Beans
      • Stir-Fried Cabbage
    • Other >
      • Chicken Chiles Rellenos
      • Big Batch Chili
      • Creamy Garlic Parmesan Chicken
      • Filet Mignon
      • Strawberry Sauce
      • Spritzer
  • About Us
    • Club
    • Governing >
      • Constitution
      • By Laws
    • Officers
    • Committees
    • Members
    • Birthdays
    • Application
  • Yearbook

Crape Murder – Only Half the Story

Howard Garrett, the Dirt Doctor

Hacking tops of crape myrtles is commonly called “Crape Murder”. I have for many years advised against pruning of these ornamental trees and was one of the first to give advice of no pruning at all - even the tips and seed pods. One of my listeners years ago mentioned that small birds like to eat the crape myrtle seeds. She was right.

On the other hand, there is another serious mistake made when planting crape myrtles.  Almost all of them are planted too deep in the ground and the flares are covered with soil.

Yes, we need to continue to educate landscapers and gardeners to stop “de-homing” the tops of plants, but more important to the long term health of the trees is to get the soil and mulch off the bases of the trees. Crape myrtles have large beautiful trunk flares that expand into aprons with age.
Picture
Proper root flare for crape myrtles.
Winter Damage

Some Crape Myrtles have winter damage.  Trees in stress are more sensitive to freeze damage and, buried root flares causes stress in trees.


It's not the years that make us grow, but the challenges that we know.