RyanFrye

I thought that I would share this massive crape myrtle I collect about two years ago before she leafs out. The first year I did nothing to it as far as pruning, I simply let it grow wild. This past year (2nd year) I cut it back hard twice and defoliated once. I know it sounds like a lot to do in one growing season, but here in central Florida we have a very long growing season and crape myrtles are extremely vigorous in our climate. The first cut backs were made to encourage basic branch growth and girth. By defoliating it I further encouraged ramification of smaller branches.

Now that I have a basic branch structure I plan to allow it to grow more than I cut in order to acheive thicker branches.

Here are some pics. Feel free to critique, virtualize, or whatever you feel it calls for

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