(And yes, it is “crape” and not “crepe,” like I thought it was for years.) I’ve been sitting on this post for a while, because I took pics but have been to lazy to write it up. Oops.
So about a month or so ago, it was time to prune the crape myrtles. And no, don’t worry, I don’t mean Crape Murder. That is horrific. Please don’t do it. I won’t even post a picture here of it; too horrifying.
So what *I* mean by pruning my Crape Myrtles is not hacking off the tops because I want to keep them short for some odd reason. It means pruning off suckers and low branches so that they look like trees instead of bushes.
pre-prune, bushy trees
See how they tend to look bushy without pruning? I prefer to keep them to a few main trunks and trim off all the suckers growing from the bottom (which I have to do several times a year) as well as low-growing branches. To do that, I broke out some of my great Troy-Bilt pruners.
Click the photo for a link to purchase.
I only needed pruners at all for the larger branches. Most of the time, you can just pinch the suckers (which tend to be redder than the old growth) off the branches. No sweat! I even went and did a touch up the other day while holding the baby.
tadaaaa!
You can actually see a lot of new growth on the ends of branches on the closest tree – those red things aren’t blooms, but red leaves on new growth. When pruning, I recommend that you think of it like plucking your eyebrows and take a step back now and then to look at the big picture so you don’t overprune.
And now, a gratuitous house picture! The garden has moved on quite a bit since then, but it looks nice here because it hadn’t gotten too hot yet.
And what’s a post without a gratuitous baby pic? (She came inside not long after this because I found a tick ON HER FACE OMG.)
Have you been witness to—or, god forbid COMMITTED—Crape Murder? Confess, I won’t tell. Maybe.
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Actually you weren’t wrong before in your spelling. It’s one of those funny words that are used in both spellings. I looked on line. Yours look great! I like them trimmed the way you did, too. What color are yours? Poor Ainsley didn’t have anything for entertainment, did she? Never seen such a contraption! Smiles!
Mine are red. If I could choose again I’d choose white, but I got these on clearance and that dark pink/red is what they had.
That thing she’s in is a jumper! I’m sure you’ll become familiar with them in a few months