PlantFiles Pictures: Crepe Myrtle, Crape Myrtle 'Dynamite' (Lagerstroemia indica), 0 by Kell

Kell wrote:
CDauphinet, I agree with your friend. I murder my myrtles every year in October as soon as they stop blooming and look ragged. I live in a warm zone though. Then they lie dormant till spring. I take them down by 2/3s. A brutal trim. Unfortunately, I planted a huge variety, 2 in fact, in my front yard (a bush and a standard) and the bush one gets too huge each summer no matter how severely I prune it.

I have read about not pruning them severely but to tell the truth all the ones I see that are not pruned, end up with small terminal panicles. Mine are huge! Up to 2 feet long and almost as wide. every year I am amazed at how much fuller and how huge my blooms are compared to all those around me. I have read that the natural shape of a crape myrtle tree is ruined with severe pruning. This is probably true, but I go for the explosion of color.

I just finally found a 5 gallon Dynamite. I have 18 different colors now. I just love them! Most of the reds I see are not really red or even close to it. I just bought 3 more bushes and 3 more standards the other day. I just love the colors they come in and by the time they explode into color, my garden as well as myself need a color burst boost!