h&h&g gardening - garden compositions—a garden murder mystery

It was a dark and cloudy winter, and the innocent stood blithely in their gardens, along roadways, in parks, and in front of homes reaching upward in anticipation of summer when their glorious presentation to society would be revealed. Even in their winter appeal with colors of cinnamon, gray, or green, their beautifully lithe arms spoke of grace and beauty. Suddenly, they were cut down.

With cars and people whizzing by, no one noticed the murderous attacks going on before their eyes. Needless, senseless murder—Crape    Murder… Just when you thought it was safe to grow crape myrtles again, the mystery of who is destroying the regal form of these wonderful flowering trees has resurfaced.                                                                                                                   

Now, the men in my life (four sons, hubby, and a slew of landscaping coworkers) say I may sound a little prone to dramatics.  That being said, the frequent careless pruning jobs on crape myrtles are as atrocious to the horticultural community as my Bulwer-Lyttonesq opening sentence is to the literary community.  Trees that should be left to grow with tall, tapering limbs are “pruned” by hacking off their terminal buds (the primary growing points of the tree), causing the limbs to knuckle and sprout with thin gangly shoots.

This type of pruning was reportedly begun as a way to encourage more blooms, since the flowering on Crape Myrtles (Lagerstroemia) occurs on the current season’s growth. The supposed resulting increase in blooms is a matter for ongoing debate in the landscaping world. There is no debate, however, about the fact that incorrect pruning weakens the branching and deforms the natural gracefulness of mature Crape Myrtles. On correctly pruned trees, flowers are held upright on   strong stems and arrive earlier than on topped off tree branches.

Two excellent articles that describe in detail how to correctly prune your Crape Myrtle are http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/pruning-lagerstroemia-crape-myrtle.aspx and http://www.grumpygardener.  southernliving.com/grumpy_gardener/2009/ 02/what-concerns-p.html.

Rather than repeat what has been so aptly written, I'll leave you with crime scene photographs and pictures of Crape Myrtles that have escaped the horror to live long glorious lives of beauty. And my urgent request that you report any suspicious pruning activity to your local county extension agent.

Editor’s Note: Barbara Wise, floriculture director with Southern Land Company, LLC, brings her gardening expertise and experience to readers of House & Home & Garden™.  You can now read more of Barbara’s plant musings at bwisegardening. blogspot.com or follow on twitter@bwisegardens. E-mail your questions to her at barbara.wise@ southernland.com.