crepe myrtle pruning

Question

My neighbor just chopped the whole green part of their crapemyrtle trees. This is the middle of September in Ga. What do you think the reason is or if they are going to die? I remember when the previous owner put them in 17 years ago.

Answer 1

Crape myrtle can be pruned anytime after flowering is finished, although most gardeners wait until they go dormant so as not to lose the green foliage. But it sounds like the neighbor went overboard with the radical crown reduction. It’s not good for the tree to whack it so extremely, and definitely not conducive to natural form and beautly, but that’s the way many people prune when they don’t know any better or have been poorly informed. The tree won’t likely die, and will probably put out new growth in the spring if it’s adequately watered and fertilized.