Q: Every year, Japanese beetles attack my crape myrtle, but other crape myrtles in the neighborhood don’t seem to be affected. Why? Connie Stevens, Barrow County A: Mechanical factors of the crape ...

High humidity and afternoon showers create the perfect environment for a multitude of problems for home gardeners. While some are having difficulty with insects and diseases, others seem to be ...

Years of improper pruning have taken their toll on this crape myrtle tree. (Alan Windham, University of Tennessee) QUESTION: While visiting a local mall, I noticed the crape myrtles had all been cut ...

Japanese Maples and Crape Myrtles are two of the last trees to enter full dormancy and lose their leaves in late winter. Both can be safely pruned in late January or early February after you’ve ...

Crape myrtle blooms on new growth, so the best time to cut back these trees is in late winter, before new growth has sprouted. January through March is generally the best time to prune a crape myrtle, ...

Somehow, the belief that crape myrtles should be brutally pruned by cutting off their tops persists, even though it's inaccurate. Crape murder is a term that has been coined to describe this severe ...

This improperly pruned crape myrtle tree has undergone “crape murder,” which is when the entire crown of the crape myrtle tree is cut off. Courtesy of Leaf & Limb, a Raleigh-based tree care company ...

You’ve probably seen crape myrtle trees pruned to look like a coat rack. Hopefully, you’re not guilty of doing this. The term “crape murder” was coined to describe this drastic topping of crape ...