A Bit of Colour

[Ray M]

Hi everyone,
I cut this Crape Myrtle back a couple of weeks ago and gave it a good dose of Seamungus. I'll have to be more vigilant and keep trimming it to get a lot more ramification. This morning whilst out doing some foliage feeding I saw the lovely colour in the new leaves. So, thought I would share a couple of pics.

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All the very best for the coming new year.

Regards Ray

[kcpoole]

I love Crepe Myrtle
So many things about them are magic.
The new leaf colour, the old leaf colour Leaf colour in Autumn. The textures and pattterns in the bark when exfoliating.
On larger trees they can even flower and not look stupid
they Ramify quite well and thus look great thru winter when bare.

you need to keep on top of them to keep new growth in check.

Awesome trees

Ken

[Ray M]

Hi Ken,
Thanks for your reply. I must say I have been very slack in keeping this one trimmed. I think it could become a nice little tree, so I'll try and keep on top of it.

How long do you think your renovation on your home will take? I hope it really goes well mate. You will have to post a pic every now and then to show how it's going.

Regards Ray

[kcpoole]

Hopefully have most of the work knocked over in 6 months or so. Lots more after that tho
Ken

[Josh]

Nice tree Ray. Wish I'd thought to put mine in a collander when I got it. Its my one and only crepe myrtle and I love it. How far can you cut the roots back when re potting crepe myrtle. I have one in a plastic pot that needs serious work as it is pot bound. How much root ball can you safely take off? Thanks

Josh

[Beano]

I took about 2/3 off my latest one but you are supposed to do root work at the end of dormancy. They are pretty hardy though, It'll probably bounce back after whatever you do to it.

I love crepe myrtles


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[Beano]

Nice tree ray


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[kcpoole]

Nice tree Ray. Wish I'd thought to put mine in a collander when I got it. Its my one and only crepe myrtle and I love it. How far can you cut the roots back when re potting crepe myrtle. I have one in a plastic pot that needs serious work as it is pot bound. How much root ball can you safely take off? Thanks

Josh

You can take off 2/3 easily, but not now tho
I wouldn't at this time of the yea, only take 1/3 if you were going to do anything now

Ken

[Ray M]

Nice tree Ray. Wish I'd thought to put mine in a collander when I got it. Its my one and only crepe myrtle and I love it. How far can you cut the roots back when re potting crepe myrtle. I have one in a plastic pot that needs serious work as it is pot bound. How much root ball can you safely take off? Thanks

Josh

You can take off 2/3 easily, but not now tho
I wouldn't at this time of the yea, only take 1/3 if you were going to do anything now

Ken

Hi Josh,
I'm with Ken on this one. For the moment I would not even cut any of the roots. Just put it in a bigger pot with some new mix around it. Wait till later on and then do a good root prune and you could put it in a colander then.

Regards Ray

[jezz_39]

Very nice, Ray.
Seeing as autumn/winter are almost non-existant according to the plants here, the best I can rely on is new growth and flowers I only have 1 Crepe at the moment and it is the dwarf cultivar 'Covergirl'. Ive been trimming almost weekly since the beginning of spring and have gained a lot of ramification for one season, seems to grow even quicker than my figs The last week Ive been pulling off flower buds every morning. Enjoyed the flowering last year but would like to concentrate on vegetation this season, seems the plant doesnt want to comply with my rules

I have family with mature specimens in their yards, will have to take some thick cuttings next year.
Can you tell us more of your specimen? Looks like a cutting??

[Ray M]

Very nice, Ray.
Seeing as autumn/winter are almost non-existant according to the plants here, the best I can rely on is new growth and flowers I only have 1 Crepe at the moment and it is the dwarf cultivar 'Covergirl'. Ive been trimming almost weekly since the beginning of spring and have gained a lot of ramification for one season, seems to grow even quicker than my figs The last week Ive been pulling off flower buds every morning. I had forgotten how quick they grow. All the new growth you can see was in two weeks. Enjoyed the flowering last year but would like to concentrate on vegetation this season, seems the plant doesnt want to comply with my rules That's to keep you on your toes.

I have family with mature specimens in their yards, will have to take some thick cuttings next year. Have you thought about doing some Air Layers. You would be able to save many years of growing if you layered some thick branches.
Can you tell us more of your specimen? Looks like a cutting?? Sorry jezz, This was a tree that was given to me some years back. I didn't have any info on the tree. When I got it I put it in a colander and also bound the trunks together as there was quit a lot of separation between them.

Regards Ray

[Josh]

Nice tree Ray. Wish I'd thought to put mine in a collander when I got it. Its my one and only crepe myrtle and I love it. How far can you cut the roots back when re potting crepe myrtle. I have one in a plastic pot that needs serious work as it is pot bound. How much root ball can you safely take off? Thanks

Josh

You can take off 2/3 easily, but not now tho
I wouldn't at this time of the yea, only take 1/3 if you were going to do anything now

Ken

Hi Josh,
I'm with Ken on this one. For the moment I would not even cut any of the roots. Just put it in a bigger pot with some new mix around it. Wait till later on and then do a good root prune and you could put it in a colander then.

Regards Ray

Thanks guys. I wasn't planning in doing anything till after winter. I will need to remove a fair amount of root though so feeling confident to do so now. Thanks.

Josh.

[Ray M]

Hi folks,
This is what happens when you are very naughty and have to many trees. I guess the only excuse I can muster is that I use a lot of stock for teaching. I went wandering through the trees this morning to get some trees ready for school and found my Crape Myrtle has flowers. This tree would be at least 10 years old and this is the first time it has flowered. I guess neglect has some benefits. Not cutting the tree back would have allowed the flowering branches to do their thing and actually produce flowers. The down side is that some of the small branches have died back so I will need to give this a good cutting after the flowers are finished.

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Regards Ray

[itsfullofstars]

Does anyone agree crepe myrtle autumn leaf colour is totally underrated?
I think they're gorgeous in autumn.

They can take our punishing aussie sun, and not burn a leaf, then put on great autumn colours.

[Ray M]

Does anyone agree crepe myrtle autumn leaf colour is totally underrated?
I think they're gorgeous in autumn.

They can take our punishing aussie sun, and not burn a leaf, then put on great autumn colours.

Hi itsfullofstars,
I agree, they have all sorts of colours at different times of the year. I really need to put some time into mine and get the ramification happening. This would produce more branches and leaves which would give a more dynamic display.

Regards Ray