How to prune crepe myrtles

Pruning Crepe Myrtles

Make the right cuts to improve the tree's looks and health

By Janet Carson

https://www.finegardening.com/article/pruning-crape-myrtles

1.    Pruning Crepe Myrtles

Few flowering plants can compete with crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica and cvs., USDA Hardiness Zones 7–9) for vibrant summer color. As an added bonus, crape myrtles thrive in heat and humidity and are drought tolerant to boot.

Though many people plant crape myrtles, few people prune them correctly. 

Correct pruning yields gracefully shaped trees with more blooms that are held upright on strong stems. And flowers arrive earlier than do those on unpruned or mispruned plants.

Photo/Illustration: J. Paul Moore

Crape myrtles bloom on new growth, so prune them in early spring before they break dormancy. Although some gardeners prune their crape myrtles in the fall, I do not recommend doing this. 

Fall pruning not only creates an unattractive look for winter but also removes the current year’s growth as a buffer against any potential winter damage. Good pruning while crape myrtles are young will mean less maintenance when the trees are older.

Sharp pruners are essential

Before tackling a pruning project, make sure that your tools are clean and sharp.

Step 1: Start at the bottom

Photo/Illustration: Melissa Lucas

The habit of crape myrtles is to produce multiple trunks, which can cause the plant to get crowded as it matures. A healthy, well-structured crape myrtle will have only a few main trunks. Removing the unnecessary ones first means reducing the overall amount of pruning you need to do.

Maintain an attractive framework
For most crape myrtles, choose three, five, or—at most—seven main trunks. An odd number of trunks is more pleasing to the eye than an even number, which often looks like soldiers in formation. Keep trunks that have ample space to grow and are growing straight and strong.

Cut all the way back
Prune suckers and any additional trunks as close to the soil line as possible. This will avoid leaving a dead stub, which is unsightly and a potential entry for  insects and diseases.

Maintain an attractive framework

Cut all the way back

Remove low branches

I like branching to begin 6 to 8 feet off the ground because it looks better and is more practical. If you don’t need to walk under the branches or see through them to view oncoming traffic, you can allow the branching to start lower.  Prune unwanted low branches all the way back to the main trunk.

Step 2: Finish at the top

Thin the crown.

Prune weak growth.

A good portion of the upper branches will have been removed when you pruned out the trunks. But you still need to thin the crown to improve the tree’s looks and health.

Thin the crown
The upper branches look best if they spread in different directions, so remove any that are growing into an area already occupied by another branch. Make your cuts slightly above a bud that faces the direction in which you want your new branch to grow. Also remove limbs that cross back through the plant or rub against each other. Wind movement and growth can cause these branches to wound each other, and you will eventually lose one or both.

To allow better air circulation and sunlight penetration, which will reduce the potential for diseases like powdery mildew, remove excess branches in the interior of the plant.

Prune weak growth
Your final cuts will be to prune out any branches or stems smaller in diameter than a pencil. Leaving wood that small on the tree results in weak new growth, which will have a difficult time supporting any flowers.

The results of poor pruning

Crape myrtles have the potential to be wonderful small trees if they aren’t chopped to their knees annually. Luckily, crape myrtles are resilient and can tolerate the topping or shearing that some folks insist on giving them. Here are the downsides to pruning a crape myrtle back to an ugly 3- to 4-foot nub every year.

WEAK BRANCHES  Severe pruning encourages rapid new growth (photo, above) with large flower heads. Unfortunately, the new branches are so long and weak that they can’t support the weight of the flowers. Sometimes the branches snap off under the weight.

FEWER BLOOMS  Allowing too many trunks to grow or cutting the plants back too far will result in a shrubby plant whose densely packed foliage produces fewer, later blooms and is more susceptible to powdery mildew.

UNREMARKABLE BARK  Shearing crape myrtles prevents the trunks from maturing enough to develop the outstanding peeling and colored bark many varieties have. This “coming of age” for crape myrtles provides as much interest in the winter landscape as the flowers do in summer.

How to prune grape vines

Training Grapevines on an Arbor

Form a sheltering canopy by guiding the vines to the top and pruning them annually

By Mary-Kate Mackey 
https://www.finegardening.com/article/training-grapevines-on-an-arbor

On a hot summer day, sitting in the shade of my grape arbor is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Sunlight filters through a haze of green leaves, and clusters of enticing fruit dangle above my head. But without some guidance, a grape arbor can also be a gardening disaster, with vines running amok, bearing little fruit among their tangled stems. The difference is in how you prune your grapevines.

When I was ready to plant four varieties of table grapes at the bases of the posts of my newly constructed arbor, the books I consulted showed the grapevines trained on a fence but offered no pruning advice on how to train grapes on an arbor. I decided to press on, and after seven years of working with my vines, I have learned that there are actually two phases: training and pruning.

I spent the first few years training the vines up the posts to form the canopy’s permanent structure. Once the vines were established, I pruned the new growth each year using the modified- cordon method to keep it under control and to encourage the best fruit production. Now my vines provide me with lots of grapes, and my arbor is the best room that’s not in the house.

1: Select permanent trunks

1.     Select one or two permanent trunks for each vine and mark your choices with a length of ribbon.

2.     Remove all unmarked growth, then cut the remaining trunks back to where they are as thick as a slim pencil.

3.     Tie the trunks to the arbor posts with twine to keep them off the ground.

2: Encourage trunk growth

1.     Choose one stem growing from each trunk to remain and mark it with ribbon.

2.     Remove all unmarked growth.

3.     Loosely retie the trunks to the posts.

Notes and observations
I planted my vines in the spring but didn’t prune them until late winter the following year, because the vines needed a full season to become established. Before I even picked up my pruners, I simply stood back and observed the vines.

Once I had tied ribbons on the trunks I wanted to keep, I went ahead and made my cuts. Establishing a single trunk will work, but I chose to have two because I live with chewing dogs and errant soccer balls.

3: Choose the cordons

1.     Select two stems from each trunk as the permanent cordons, or arms (or four stems if you have only one trunk), and mark them with ribbons.

2.     Remove all unmarked growth and shorten each cordon to 5 feet.

3.     Loosely tie the cordons to the arbor.

Notes and observations
During the third summer, my vines grew to the top of my arbor, which indicated that the trunk growth was complete. That winter, I chose the cordons, or arms, to fan out across the top of the arbor. By annually trimming the cordons to 5 feet, I am able to grow four types of grapes across the top of my arbor, each one pruned to its own quadrant.

4: Maintenance prune to stimulate grape production

To spur prune:

1.     Select 20 to 30 stems, which grew from the cordons (full number not shown here).

2.     Create spurs by pruning the stems to two buds.

3.     Remove all other growth.

Notes and observations
During the fourth summer, my vines produced their first grapes. In the fourth winter, I started maintenance pruning, or selectively cutting back the stems. When maintenance pruning, remember that grapes grow from the buds formed on the previous summer’s stems, so don’t remove all the stems or you won’t get any fruit.

To cane prune:

1.     Select four stems per cordon.

2.     Cut two stems back to 8 to 12 buds to create two canes.

3.     Cut the other two stems back to two-bud spurs.

4.     The following year, reverse the pruning by cutting the spurs, which will have grown into long stems, back to 8 to 12 buds to make a cane. Then prune the previous year’s canes back to two-bud spurs. Alternate the pruning on these spurs and canes each year.

5.     Remove all other growth.

Stems can be either be spur pruned (cut short) or cane pruned (cut long), depending on the variety (ask the nursery when you buy your vines). Most grapevines respond to either method, but some vines will fruit only on buds located farther out on the cane. All vines, no matter how they are pruned, should be left with 40 to 60 buds each for good fruit production. When cordons, spurs, or canes decrease in vigor, choose new ones from the new growth.

Girls on the table

My lovely Teenie, and Taffy

Started on the back garden, post-container

Colleague away today. I have to do her late shift, which means I go in to work later, and have a longer morning at home (hallelujah).
So, I did the bare minimum needed to get started on shaping the back garden.

Lots more needs doing, but I'll get there.