Yes, Madelaine, could you please name the arborist? We have two beautiful crepe trees that could use a professional shaping, but I have been reluctant to call someone for fear they would "murder" them.

I have been using Tree Frog, otherwise known as Kanani Morris. He has done some great work for me over the years, but when I tried to contact him early this spring there was no answer. He may no longer be here in TV.

Just recently, on the recommendation of Garden Club North, I called a really nice young man, Brian Stanage licensed arborist (352-636-3527) to look at a Florida Flame Maple we have. He is very busy, but came and looked and told me to leave the tree alone for now and he would be back in the fall after it loses it's leaves. Nice young man. I was impressed and it's hard to impress me!!!!

Perhaps someone on here knows whether Tree Frog has gone. I do know he was getting more and more work in the Orlando area. He did great work, not cheap, but so worth it.

Back to original subject: Crepe Myrtles.

I knew nothing about this tree until I was an out patient at Mayo in Jacksonville for three years. During the time I was back and forth I used to get lunch and sit on their patio. They have a beautiful sitting area and the main planting is their Myrtles. They are absolutely huge, almost as tall as the building and beautifully shaped. They look like ornamental living umbrellas. That is when I fell in love with Myrtles. Mine is about 9 or 10 years old now and I just love it. It is my back patio shade tree, but it is really dirty once it starts to drop it's seed pods. If you are not up to sweeping your patio once a day it is not the tree for you!

My other half does not like it as much as I do because of the mess~:cus:

Thank you. I watched the video and it is very informative.
Have a Great week...😎

As my very good Parisian friend always said, "Red wine goes with everything"!!!

The original article in Southern Living back in the 90's called it "Crape Murder". There are varieties of this tree that do not grow tall if it's height people are trying to control, but the severe cutting is shocking to see. The resulting branches will be spindly and easily broken with bad weather. The key is to prune branches that are growing TOWARD the center of the tree and leave the ones that grow outward. It saddens me each year when I see these trunks hacked off at the knuckles. The end result is not beautiful.

So wrong. There is no wrong way to trim it. I have over 100 crepe myrtles on my other property up in Ocala. Been cutting them over 20 years. Here is what I have learned.
If you don't trim them yearly, the branches grow tall and stringy by the second year.
You can't hurt them by any way you cut them. I've trimmed them with hand cutters and also a small chainsaw.
You can't hurt them if you chop them off at any length but keep in mind if you leave the knob it will be fuller.
You can trim them any time.....they are like a weed...you can not kill it. I have trimmed them before winter, during winter, spring...doesn't matter, though I usually cut them in March. I've tried to kill one by cutting it to the ground, but it doesn't work.
So do your thing and enjoy the results.

Thanks for this!!!! My husband and I did notice other neighbors' crepe myrtles and wondered if what they did is what we should be doing because ours never seem to have an abundance of flowers. We will follow the Grumpy Gardner's advice!

Thanks again, Cathy

Oh, no. NO!
 

Mother Nature never intended them to be pruned at all so any method is incorrect.

Thanks for this education. I am the new owner of a crepe myrtle that came with my house. A landscaper did tell me to lop ff the top. I won't now. What about the new growth growing from the ground???

There is an abundance of information on line on how to grow, prune and shape various Crepe Myrtles. You probably should first start by finding out whether you have a bush or a tree myrtle (all this information you can find online), there is a big difference in how you can shape a tree from a bush type. Tree myrtles like mine (White Natchez) get treated entirely differently from my bush myrtles and even my two bush myrtles need different pruning techniques to keep them looking their best. If you drive through the various shopping centers in TV you will find myrtles everywhere, in all different colors and shapes, and that should give you a start as to what you have. Tree myrtles grow in an entirely different way to bush types.

The one thing I would emphasize is please do not lop off the top because you are never ever going to get rid of those really ugly knuckles afterwards.

I reject your reality and substitute my own. And just for the record, the word "never" is modifying the word "intended" not "be pruned".