Often times, when February rolls around, we see professional landscapers all over town hitting the streets with their clippers and their saws hacking away at all the Crape Myrtles. In fact we are so used to seeing this year after year that many homeowners have started doing the same thing, because they thought it was the right thing to do; after all the pros are doing it.
Well, the truth is some of the big landscape companies “invented” this practice years ago to generate revenue and to keep their crews busy during the winter months. Believe it or not Crepe Myrtles don’t even have to be pruned at all!
Now, with that being said sometimes you may not have the room to let one of these hardy shrubs run wild, or maybe you like the appearance of a well manicured tree. Whatever the case may be, there is a better way to prune these trees.
Natural Prunning:
This is going to be the simplest pruning method and give the most “natural” appearance. The main things we want to be concerned with are branches that are inward growing, crossing or rubbing against other branches and dead branches. Careful pruning with a sharp cutter will eliminate these problems and leave you with a healthy, happy and natural looking Crape Myrtle.
Formal Prunning:
As the name implies the method of pruning is going to leave you with a much more refined and tidy looking tree. When pruning using this method, think shearing a hedge, you want to cut the tips back after a fork in the branch. Again, with this style of pruning you would also want to look for things like dead or crossed and rubbing branches and remove them.
With a little TLC, your Crepe Myrtles will look their best this summer. If you have any questions or would like Stone Creek Landscaping to do you pruning for you, please don’t hesitate to call.