Q.Ends Of Crepe Myrtle Branches Near Top Didn’t Leaf Out
Near and at top of crepe myrtle the branch didn’t leaf out. The rest of the tree looks OK. I have noticed this has happened in our area on other crepe myrtles also. I live in western Kentucky.
Sounds like the branches may have experienced enough cold weather that it zapped the ends near the top. Paducah, KY is at zone 7, which is the upper cold limit of most varieties of Crape Myrtles so an extreme cold event could easily trigger that. Some varieties of CM will grow as bushes in Z7 and, when it is very cold (like the 3rd week in February 2021 in Paducah, KY), the stems may dry out but grow again from the base in Spring. I try to mulch them well during winter and water them deeply when temperatures much below 10°F are forecasted here in Texas. Some of my CM Trees had damage from the February 2021 freeze that we had (-2°F). You could prune the dead branches if you want and can reach them. To confirm that the branches are dead, you could very carefully do a scratch test looking for green.
