Will Crepe Myrtle Bloom if Cut Back in June?

Life Cycle

• Crape myrtle leaf buds emerge from a long winter dormancy in mid- to late spring, then quickly grow into a fresh, full canopy. The first flush of bloom opens in early summer, then repeats sporadically throughout the season. Crape myrtle is usually one of the first trees to lose its leaves in the fall, revealing its muscular branches and mottled, cinnamon-colored bark for you to enjoy throughout winter.

Time to Prune

• Crape myrtle blooms on new wood, meaning that its buds form in spring, then bloom shortly afterward in early summer. Therefore, this ornamental should be pruned during winter dormancy or when the leaves start to open in spring. If your crape myrtle has not yet started to flower in June, cutting it back at this time will probably remove its flower buds. New growth will sprout and the tree will should bloom later in summer.

Proper Pruning

• In winter or early spring, cut away stray branches and others that don't support a nice shape. Cut back to an outward-facing branch. If the crape myrtle is trained as a small tree, remove suckers from the base of the trunk and the twigs on the trunk and main branches that might obscure an open, leggy form. Throughout spring, remove fresh growth that emerges in those areas. Thin bushy crape myrtles by removing the oldest and most overgrown branches. Don't remove more than one-quarter of the branches annually. Always disinfect pruning blades with rubbing alcohol before and after each project to prevent the spread of disease.

Bad Pruning

• Never be tempted to shorten a crape myrtle by cutting the branches part-way back to stubs. Called pollarding or topping, this encourages long, weak stems that can't bear the weight of the large flowers, especially when they are wet with rain. Crape myrtle enthusiasts sometimes call this "crape murder" because it destroys the tree's elegant structure and broad canopy.

Repeat Blooming

• If you deadhead crape myrtle after the flowers fade, it will encourage new growth that will bloom several weeks later. Simply cut away the spent panicles before they form seeds. If your summers are long, you might be able to do this a second time and get a third flush. Successive displays will be less showy. Don't deadhead the last bloom or you'll encourage new growth that might not be hardened off before the first killing frost.