It is crape murder time again. The time when landscapers do not have enough to do so they murder crape myrtle trees. Why? That is a question I have asked myself for years. Why would someone cut a ...

Although native to eastern Asia, crape myrtles are indispensable in the Southern landscape. Its vibrantly colored flowers in shades of pink, purple, red and white from May to September virtually ...

I enjoy living n a heavily wooded area; that's why I oppose over-pruning of any tree. Sure, we do need to prune trees if they are in a urban setting and they are a danger to power lines, but we have a ...

Now’s the time of year you’re most likely to see naked crape myrtle trees, the unfortunate consequence of improper wintertime pruning. The practice has even been given a not-so-affectionate nickname: ...

You’ve probably seen crape myrtle trees pruned to look like a coat rack. Hopefully, you’re not guilty of doing this. The term “crape murder” was coined to describe this drastic topping of crape ...

Somehow, the belief that crape myrtles should be brutally pruned by cutting off their tops persists, even though it's inaccurate. Crape murder is a term that has been coined to describe this severe ...

With all the rain over the past few months — we have already surpassed our annual average rainfall and are only halfway through the year — lots of plants are growing wild while others are suffering.

Left, the winged seeds of crape myrtle; and right, an American goldfinch feeding on crape myrtle seed. (Image courtesy Gary Graves) Each year from summer into fall, ornamental crape myrtle trees in ...

This improperly pruned crape myrtle tree has undergone “crape murder,” which is when the entire crown of the crape myrtle tree is cut off. Courtesy of Leaf & Limb, a Raleigh-based tree care company ...