Dear Neil: I recently bought a house in rural East Texas. It’s on 2.5 acres of heavily forested land. I didn’t walk the entire area before the closing, and only recently have I discovered that I ...

All have the Japanese crape myrtle (L fautlei) in their parentage, endowing them with a faster rate of growth, larger leaves, and greater cold hardiness. With the names 'Muskogee' (lavender), 'Natchez ...

I usually wait until mid-January to write something on this topic but this week I saw my first severe pruning of a crape myrtle for this dormant season earlier this month. So, instead of visions of ...

Brazos has been the "Crape Myrtle Capital County of Texas" since 1991. If your crape myrtles aren't colorful right now, you should improve their environment for next year. Crape myrtles are the ...

So far, 2025 has been the best year I’ve seen for crape myrtles in the past 15 or 20. Many of us feel they’re the best flowering shrubs and small trees for the South, and this year is certainly ...

There are other things, I’m sure, that could kill a crape myrtle, but by now we’re down to rather random possibilities like weedkiller damage, poor drainage (I do note the signs of weakened turf and ...

With its delicate thin petals that form large blooms in white, pink, red or purple, lush green leaves that form a thick canopy of foliage and smooth, exfoliating bark, it is easy to see why the crape ...

Crape murder is happening all over town. It doesn’t matter how horticulturists talk about proper pruning techniques, each year more and more trees are cut back to stubs. Standard crape myrtles have ...