Our gardening guru to the south, Neil Perry is one expert who knows his stuff when it comes to correct pruning and trimming of Crapemyrtle shrubs. Two facts to remember: • Crape myrtles are a sub-tropical plant. In their native homes they’re not subjected to really cold winters. • McKinney is north of Dallas, and winters can be rather cold in McKinney. (Respect paid to Amarillo and North Dakota. We still get cold by crape myrtle standards.) Freeze damaged crapemyrtle Therefore, we do occasionally see freeze damage to some of the less hardy varieties. Types like Natchez, Tuscarora, Muskogee and the old variety Country Red commonly freeze to the ground. Trim out the dead wood quickly so the new shoots can start filling in. Game plan here should still be to remove the dead stems carefully. Leave all of the new shoots in place until fall. At that point, select the 7 or 8 straightest stems and leave them. Remove the rest. Next year, perhaps in early summer, the new growth wi...
