crepe myrtles

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tiG Newnan, GA(Zone 8a) Apr 24, 2002

How much will they put back out? we finally pruned very heavy after many years. the bed in this picture was in total shade from them. will these put back out enough to make this a shade bed again this year, or should I put sunlovers there instead?

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Post #27692
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farmgirl21 Hempstead, TX(Zone 8b) Apr 27, 2002

tig, did you ever get any answers to your question, like in another forum? well i showed dh this post this morning. he has been growing crepes myrtles for yrs. at his shop. he feels you didn't prune them enought for optimum growth. he says you have to many stalks coming up from the botttom. i asked hem if you emailed me if he would sit down and explain the whole pruning process. but i couldn't get him to post it here. lol. but he said now is the time of yr to really cut them back and that yes you will get shade again in one season. email me if you would like details.

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tiG Newnan, GA(Zone 8a) Apr 28, 2002

the reason there are so many trunks is because DH never ever believed in pruning anything before I made him. I tried for years to get him to prune these beauties. we have to prune ours in January here to get them to flower. He actually did take out 2 trunks per tree, but we love them as they are, the trunks are the main thing we like about them. All of the others we're growing now have been thinned, but we just can't do it with these. They have already put out about 1' of leafy growth, so I'm guessing I need something that likes spring sun and fall shade!!! LOL!
Tell DH I know we started out wrong, but if we took out any of the trunks now, we'd be terrified they would die, and they would look awful too. They're over 25 years old.

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louisa Troy, VA(Zone 7a) Apr 29, 2002

tig these trees also send out suckers even when they are quite young and do grow large!! I would wait and see what happens before cutting them back even more - it's not the right time of the year now. I hate cutting them back anyway!! Thank goodness they are quite vigorous!!

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tiG Newnan, GA(Zone 8a) Apr 29, 2002

I hate the suckers. can you imagine how many I've killed in all these years??

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louisa Troy, VA(Zone 7a) Apr 29, 2002

tig I removed the 'sprouts' that were growing around the tree I left behind and I now have two lovely healthy specimens. 2 years old and about 4 feet high!! But I know what you mean about suckers :-)

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