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How to Take Care of a Crape Myrtle
How to Take Care of a Crape Myrtle. Crape myrtles are beautiful trees that produce blooms in shades of pink, purple, white or red. Crape myrtles can add color to a garden and a front yard, and can also serve as a border between lawns or sections in your backyard. Some crape myrtle varieties can be grown as shrubs. They require little maintenance,...
Crape myrtles are beautiful trees that produce blooms in shades of pink, purple, white or red. Crape myrtles can add color to a garden and a front yard, and can also serve as a border between lawns or sections in your backyard. Some crape myrtle varieties can be grown as shrubs. They require little maintenance, which makes them a good choice for someone with little to no gardening experience.
Things You'll Need
5-10-5 fertilizer for trees
Pruning shears
Plant crape myrtles in a location that receives full sun. They need full sun exposure to bloom well. Don't plant crape myrtles in the vicinity of taller trees that can block the sun.
Water the crape myrtle abundantly when first planted, to help it establish its root system. During the hot summer months water often so it does not whither.
Apply a 5-10-5 fertilizer designed for flowering trees. Do not overfertilize, as this can lead to production of more leaves and less blooms.
During the middle of the summer, clip any fading blooms on your crape myrtle. Prune the tree in the spring to maintain its shape. During the year, suckers may grow at the base of the tree. Cut these whenever they sprout unless you want your crape myrtle to become a shrub. In the winter, prune the stem tips only.
Tips & Warnings
Crape myrtles can grow in any type of soil as long as they have full sun, water and fertilizer.
You can add organic matter to the soil.
Because a crape myrtle offers plenty of shade as it gets older, you can plant at its base flowers that do well in shade.
