Cutting back crepe Mertle-

My grandmother had crepe mertle in Arkansas. We would cut it back pretty far down to the bigger woody part. They came back every time fuller. I am not sure how tall yours currently is. I would say we cut them back to about 4'.

After a late spring hard freeze last year, I was forced to cut mine back to only about 4 feet high. It didn't kill them, and this year they are about 12 feet tall again! (p.s. I live in Kentucky.)

http://www.southernliving.com/garden/grumpy-gardener/what-concerns-p

Please don't cut back your crepe myrtle to 4 feet! There are many articles on this..... It is commonly called crepe "murder". I have 3 beautiful 40' crepe myrtles that have never been cut back like that and neighbors want to know my secret. Only cut off spent seed heads as far as you can reach and remove dead branches......you could also remove branches that are crossing over another or selectively open up the middle to get sun to shine through.

Kelly, as far as your mom's crepe myrtle, it will send out shoots,

aka....candelabra growth in a effort to repair itself if the major pruning did not kill it? She needs to select one shoot on the outside of each trunk to keep and cut back the others. The wound will look like a scar and will never look like the original plant but will be ok.

You can wait until all leaves turn their beautiful fall color and drop off and then if you have large branches up close to the house, you can cut them back to the trunk. If you need to cut back height, only cut small branches and never go into the beautiful main trunk of each branch!

Here in the south, crepe myrtles are one of the beautiful plants/trees we are blessed with. In late summer they shed their bark to reveal a smooth trunk underneath.

Happy gardening!

Each year you can cut that sucker all the way down to stubs - and it will regrow to a big beautiful bush. I usually cover mine with crumpled newspaper and a heavy plastic bag. I weight the edges down with rocks/bricks/whatever. Then in the spring I uncover them and am blessed with happy green sprouts and crepe myrtles ready for another season !!