With its delicate thin petals that form large blooms in white, pink, red or purple, lush green leaves that form a thick canopy of foliage and smooth, exfoliating bark, it is easy to see why the crape ...

This fast-growing (up to 5 feet per year) woody plant flowers all summer long, making crape myrtle a popular garden favorite. “Specimen trees can be great for shade in the summer,” says Tracy Harrison ...

Prune crape myrtles in late winter to encourage strong new growth and flower production. Avoid pruning in spring, summer, or fall to prevent cutting off new flowers and stressing the tree. Never top ...

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 ...

So far, 2025 has been the best year I’ve seen for crape myrtles in the past 15 or 20. Many of us feel they’re the best flowering shrubs and small trees for the South, and this year is certainly ...

Speaking as a “plantaholic” who likes just about all things with foliage, fronds or needles, one plant I started to salivate over in the 1990s was crape myrtle (Lagerstroemia sp.). For us in northern ...

Though springtime in Lancaster County is greeted by a spectrum of blooming trees and shrubs, late-summer color can be hard to come by. Fortunately, in Lancaster County, we can grow crape myrtle, a ...

Take a look outside, and you might see that your crape myrtle’s leaves are turning shades of yellow, orange and red and falling to the ground. Is this a sign that autumn is near? Not quite. This time ...

Crape murder is happening all over town. It doesn’t matter how horticulturists talk about proper pruning techniques, each year more and more trees are cut back to stubs. Standard crape myrtles have ...