[livsea2]

We were away for the month of March and my sister stayed in my house. When we returned NOTING that Hometown was supposed to do was done. Irrigation not reset for spring, Nothing trimmed and bushes growing into the lanai screening, aeration not done, and my crepe myrtles were to be cut back in March. So I got hold of a supervisor and gave him what for as we used to say. Our home has been hometown central for two days.
My question is they cut back the crepe myrtles down to stumps which surprised us and online research indicates that it could be good or not so good but not terminal for the trees so that said will the trees come back soon or even this year considering they were already leafy when cut?

[tuccillo]

If they "crepe murdered" them you should get another landscaper. In my opinion, they need to be intelligently pruned and much earlier in the year. They will probably survive but there is no excuse for what they did.

Originally Posted by livsea2

We were away for the month of March and my sister stayed in my house. When we returned NOTING that Hometown was supposed to do was done. Irrigation not reset for spring, Nothing trimmed and bushes growing into the lanai screening, aeration not done, and my crepe myrtles were to be cut back in March. So I got hold of a supervisor and gave him what for as we used to say. Our home has been hometown central for two days.
My question is they cut back the crepe myrtles down to stumps which surprised us and online research indicates that it could be good or not so good but not terminal for the trees so that said will the trees come back soon or even this year considering they were already leafy when cut?

[redwitch]

They'll live. Some do call it crepe murder but the trees seem to survive the hacking and grow back pretty lush.

[livsea2]

Thanks for the replies but no answer yet to my main question...will they come back this year?

[tuccillo]

The problem is they can't be shaped when they are "crepe murdered".

Originally Posted by redwitch

They'll live. Some do call it crepe murder but the trees seem to survive the hacking and grow back pretty lush.

[OBXNana]

We live in PA and my answer may not apply to the warmer climate. To control growth, we cut ours back to 18" every April. They bloom beautifully July and August. You may have a delay in bloom time, but I would guess they should be fine.

[villagetinker]

look up the thread on 'crepe murder', as I pointed out on that thread, there are several varieties of crepe myrtle. If you have a bush or dwarf version there was probably much less damage then if you have the tree version. I hope they come back for you.

[Ozzello]

Most likely you have tree type crepe myrtles, and yes they should come back fine and will actually have much larger blooms this summer, than if the trimming had not been so severe. Though you may not get blooms as early as your neighbors that were trimmed in March, you should only run about a month behind....and a month beyond with your blooming.