Garden columnist Dan Gill answers readers' questions each week. To send a question, email Gill at dgill@agcenter.lsu.edu. About a year ago, we redid our flowerbeds and added three crape myrtle trees.

DEAR NEIL: My husband made sure I read your column telling us never to top our crape myrtles. However, ours had aphids last summer, stopped growing and looks terrible. Short of digging it up, can we ...

Stop fertilizing and reduce watering in fall to help crepe myrtles transition into winter dormancy. Fall is prime time to plant new crepe myrtles and prep existing ones with mulch and pest control.

A: A crape myrtle shedding bark is completely normal. Also referred to as 'exfoliating bark', this process simply reveals newer inner bark, often cinnamon red in color. This process can be more ...

Adding to our list of non-native pests is a newcomer that attacks crepe myrtles. It is called the Crepe Myrtle Bark Scale (CMBS). The new pest is originally from China, Japan and Korea. It was first ...