Preparing Your Crape Myrtle for Winter
Crape myrtles have beautiful blooms through the warm months of summer, and fall is the best time to prepare them to survive the harsh winter.
We have a few tips to help you:
1. We recommend feeding your plant with a fertilizer, like Espoma Holly-tone.
2. Make sure there is 2 – 3″ of mulch over the root system. This means, keep the mulch 3″ away from the trunks of your Crape Myrtle, then place your mulch 2 – 3″ thick over the root system ( 12 to 16″ away from the trunks).
3. Be observant. If we have cold overnight temperatures, remember to use Miracle Gro, at the rate of 4 scoops to 1 gallon of water, 3 feedings 7 days apart, to stimulate root activity, to prevent damage to your Crape Myrtle.
4. If your Crape Myrtle has a number of spent blossoms, you can remove these blossoms after the Crape Myrtle has dropped its leaves.
If you have any more questions about caring for your crape myrtles just ask our experts in store or online here.
Could you please clarify when we do the Miracle Gro process, is it now, winter, or spring, or all of the above? Thanks so much.
I have several different varieties of well established crepe myrtles all over my yard. It’s now January 5th and none
of the crepe myrtles have lost their leaves…which are brown and crinkly. Will they straighten out in the Spring or
are they doomed from the current deep freeze? Until this year the crepe myrtles have all lost their leaves after the
first frost. Any ideas? Thank you.
JMSeeger
My name is Pat Baumannn and I am the Nursery Mgr at Hummelstown for Staffers of Kissel Hill. With the late fall we experienced in 2017, many plant and tree varieties have not dropped their leaves as in years passed. The crapemyrtles, with theirs still leaves still attached, does not affect the health of the plants. I, personally, have 11 different varieties of crapemyrtles, ranging in years planted on my property from 4 to 17 years, and many of them have leaves still attached. The varieties of crapemyrtles that Stauffers of Kissel Hill provide our customers are very winter hardy and so at this time, their is nothing you need to do at this time. To get your crapemyrtles a good start next spring, here is what you should do, the 2nd week of April, go out to the crapemyrtles and pull the mulch back about 2 feet apply Hollytone, according to directions on bag, based on the size of your crapemyrtles, then return the mulch and cover the hollytone. Then you should apply a mixture of Miracle-Gro and water (the rate is 4 scoops of Miracle-Gro to 1 gal. of water) to each the crapemyrtle. Based on the size of your crapemyrtles, you should apply 1/2 to 2 gallons per plant. The mixture needs to be done 3 times, 7 days a part, to stimulate the roots and get the sap moving up into the plant.
I planted a crepe myrtle tonto 2 years ago. I live in Pittsburgh,PA area. I thought the plant died because I did not see any growth on it by the third week of June. I cut it down to the ground. 2 weeks later I had new growth. It is now approximately 4 1/2 ft. tall. Last winter I protected the tree with burlap. We had a pretty cold winter. I thought about possibly protecting the plant this winter by using burlap and then using plastic making sure that there is a space between the burlap and the plastic. The location of the tree gets a fair amount of wind and I thought the plastic would create a good break. Any ideas would greatly be appreciated. Thank you.
Hi David,
our in-store specialist says that would be a good thing to do.
In addition to what you mentioned, he also recommended stuffing the burlap with fallen leaves as an added layer of insulation, and mulching extra heavy around the root zone of the plant.
Hope this helps!
My crepe mrytle is still in the pot I bought it in . I haven’t decided where to plant it yet. Well mulching it protect it from winter or should I bring it in?
Our in-store specialist suggests keeping it in an unheated garage or basement for the winter. It needs the cold for dormancy, however it should be protected from hard freezing and thawing. Water it once or twice a month while in the garage.
Hope this helps!
These bushes are just gorgeous. Are there any varieties that are hardy for a 3-4 zone?
My myrtle looks beautiful in the late summer. Then comes winter – in the spring, suddenly all branches are dead twigs, the whole bush looks woody, and the new growth is coming from below, so we cut away the wood, and it is like starting all over again every year! Confused on this “starting over” every year! Help!!