How to trim a crepe myrtle (and why most people do it wrong)

Every February, it starts. Homeowners across Northern California grab their loppers and hack their crepe myrtles (Lagerstroemia indica) down to ugly, knuckled stumps. They chop every branch back to the same height, leaving a cluster of thick, blunt stubs that look like a fist punching out of the ground. Then they stand back and admire their work.

Steve Bender at Southern Living gave this practice a name years ago: crepe murder. It’s the perfect term. You’re killing the natural shape of one of the most beautiful small trees you can grow in zones 7 through 9, and for no good reason.

The International Society of Arboriculture (ISA) calls topping “the most harmful tree pruning practice known.” Their ANSI A300 pruning standards say you should never remove more than 25% of a tree’s canopy in a single season. Crepe murder removes 80% or more. It is not pruning. It is mutilation.

What crepe murder looks like

Drive through any Sacramento suburb in late winter and you’ll see it everywhere. Crepe myrtles cut back to 4 or 5 feet tall, with every branch lopped off at the same point. The cuts are thick, sometimes 2 to 3 inches in diameter. What’s left is a collection of blunt poles sticking up out of the ground.

Come spring, the tree sends out a flush of thin, whippy growth from each cut point. Those new shoots are weak. They can’t support the heavy flower clusters that form in summer, so the branches flop over and droop to the ground. The tree looks top-heavy, unbalanced, and nothing like the graceful vase shape a crepe myrtle should have.

The knobby callus tissue that forms around each topping cut creates permanent disfigurement. Those “knuckles” will always be there, and each year the tree pushes out a dense thicket of water sprouts from each one. The wood beneath the cuts starts to decay, creating entry points for insects and disease. A topped crepe myrtle has a shorter lifespan than one that was pruned correctly.

People who do this usually think they’re helping the tree bloom more. They’re not. A properly pruned crepe myrtle produces just as many flowers, and the blooms are held upright on sturdy branches instead of flopping over like wet noodles.

Why people commit crepe murder

Most of the time it comes down to three things.

First, the tree is too big for the space. Someone planted a ‘Natchez’ or ‘Tuscarora’ (both grow 25 to 30 feet tall) in a spot that needed a 10-foot shrub. Rather than remove it and plant the right variety, they whack it down every year to keep it small. That’s like buying a Great Dane and cutting its legs short because you wanted a Corgi.

Second, they saw their neighbor do it. Crepe murder is contagious. One person does it, and suddenly half the block thinks that’s normal maintenance. It’s not.

Third, a lawn care crew offered to do it for $50 and the homeowner figured it must be the right move if a “professional” suggested it. A lot of lawn care companies add tree topping to their service list because it’s fast money. It takes ten minutes with a reciprocating saw. That doesn’t make it correct. As we covered in our article on why tree trimmer safety matters, the gap between a lawn crew and a trained arborist is the difference between destruction and care.

Pick the right variety and you’ll never need to top

This is the real fix. If you haven’t planted your crepe myrtle yet, or you’re replacing one that’s been murdered for too long, choose a variety that fits your space. The species ranges from 3-foot dwarfs to 30-foot trees. There is no reason to fight the genetics.

For tight spots and small yards (4 to 8 feet tall):

• ‘Pocomoke’ - Grows 3 to 5 feet. Dense, rounded shrub. Rosy pink flowers. Perfect next to a patio.
• ‘Chickasaw’ - Tops out at 4 feet. Lavender-pink blooms. Great low hedge.
• ‘Acoma’ - A weeping semi-dwarf that stays 8 to 10 feet. White flowers. One of the prettiest crepe myrtles you can buy.

For medium spaces (10 to 15 feet tall):

• ‘Sioux’ - Grows 12 to 15 feet. Dark pink flowers. Excellent mildew resistance.
• ‘Tonto’ - Stays under 15 feet with a wide-spreading habit. Fuchsia-red blooms. Very popular in NorCal.
• ‘Zuni’ - Compact at 9 to 12 feet. Medium lavender flowers.

For large yards where you want a real tree (20 to 30 feet tall):

• ‘Natchez’ - The king of crepe myrtles. Grows 25 to 30 feet with cinnamon-colored exfoliating bark. White flowers. Give it room. The UC Davis Arboretum grows ‘Natchez’ on campus and considers it one of the best performers for the Sacramento Valley.
• ‘Tuscarora’ - 20 to 25 feet. Coral-pink flowers. Strong disease resistance.
• ‘Muskogee’ - 20 to 25 feet. Light lavender flowers. Outstanding bark.

If your yard can only handle a 10-foot tree, plant a ‘Tonto.’ Don’t plant a ‘Natchez’ and fight it every winter. Our guide to the best trees for small yards goes deeper on sizing trees to tight spaces.

All crepe myrtle varieties want full sun. At least six hours of direct sunlight per day. Less than that and you get fewer flowers, more mildew, and weak growth. They tolerate a wide range of soils, including clay, sand, and loam, as long as drainage is decent. Soil pH from 5.0 to 7.5 works fine. Sacramento’s alkaline clay is no problem for a crepe myrtle. Plant it in the hottest, sunniest spot in your yard and it will reward you for it.

When to prune a crepe myrtle

The right time to prune is late February, before new growth starts but after the worst frost risk has passed. In zones 7 through 9, that window is usually the last two weeks of February through mid-March. You want the tree fully dormant so you can see the branch structure clearly.

In Northern California, I aim for the last week of February. The tree is still asleep, but the days are getting longer. You’ll have two to three weeks before the first leaf buds break.

Don’t prune in fall. The tree needs its leaves into November to store energy for winter. Don’t prune in summer. You’ll remove the flower buds forming on new growth and cut the bloom season short.

For more detail on timing your pruning across all the trees in your yard, our guide to when you should trim your trees covers the seasonal rules species by species.

How to actually trim a crepe myrtle

Tools you’ll need

You don’t need much. For a typical crepe myrtle under 20 feet, here’s the list:

• Bypass hand pruners for branches under 1/2 inch. Get a quality pair (Felco 2 or Corona BP 3180 run $30 to $60). Anvil pruners crush stems. Bypass pruners cut clean.
• Bypass loppers for branches 1/2 inch to 1-1/2 inches. The longer handles give you leverage without climbing.
• A folding pruning saw for the occasional larger cut. You shouldn’t need this often if you’ve been pruning annually.

Clean your tools with rubbing alcohol between trees to avoid spreading disease. This matters especially if you’ve been working on a tree with powdery mildew or sooty mold.

What to remove

Here’s what to cut, in order:

Suckers at the base. Most crepe myrtles send up thin shoots from the roots. Cut these off at ground level. If you want a multi-trunk form, pick three to five of the strongest trunks early on and remove everything else. Once you’ve committed to your trunk structure, keep it clean.

Side branches below 4 feet. On each main trunk, remove small side branches from the lower section. This lifts the canopy and shows off the smooth, exfoliating bark that makes crepe myrtles so attractive from October through March. The bark peels in patches of gray, tan, cinnamon, and cream. It’s the best feature of the tree in winter. Don’t hide it behind a thicket of low branches.

Crossing and rubbing branches. Where two branches cross and rub against each other, remove the weaker one. Rubbing creates wounds that invite disease and insects. When deciding which branch stays, keep the one growing in a better direction (outward and upward, not inward).

Inward-growing branches. Branches that grow toward the center of the tree block airflow and light. Remove them to open up the interior. Good air circulation is the single best defense against powdery mildew, which is the most common crepe myrtle disease in Northern California. Powdery mildew shows up as a white, dusty coating on leaves and flower buds, usually in late spring when temperatures are 60 to 80 degrees with high humidity. An open canopy keeps air moving and leaves drier.

Seed heads from last year. The small, dried flower clusters at the tips of branches can be snipped off if you want a tidier look. This is optional. It doesn’t significantly affect next year’s blooming because crepe myrtles flower on new wood, meaning the current season’s growth.

Dead wood. Remove anything dead or broken, cutting back to a healthy branch or the trunk.

The thumb rule

That’s it. You should never cut a healthy branch thicker than your thumb. If you’re reaching for a saw to cut through a 2-inch branch, stop and reconsider what you’re doing. A proper pruning cut on a crepe myrtle uses hand pruners or loppers, not a chainsaw or reciprocating saw.

When you make a cut, cut back to a side branch or to the branch collar (the slightly swollen ring where a branch meets the trunk). Don’t leave stubs. A clean cut at the collar lets the tree seal the wound naturally. A stub rots.

What a well-pruned crepe myrtle looks like

A properly maintained crepe myrtle has a natural vase shape. Multiple trunks spread upward and outward, with an open interior you can see through. The bark is smooth and mottled in shades of gray, tan, and cinnamon. The canopy is rounded and full without being dense.

In summer, the flower clusters stand upright at the tips of strong branches. The blooms last from June or July through September in zones 7 through 9, sometimes even into October if the fall stays warm. That’s 90 to 120 days of flowers. No other tree in your yard will match that bloom window.

Crepe myrtles also happen to be one of the most water-efficient flowering trees you can plant in inland California. The University of California’s WUCOLS guide rates Lagerstroemia as “Low” water use for the Sacramento Valley and other inland regions. Once established, a crepe myrtle survives on little to no supplemental irrigation through a normal California summer. That combination of drought tolerance and four months of nonstop blooms is why every Sacramento neighborhood has at least a dozen of them.

A mature crepe myrtle that’s never been topped is one of the most beautiful trees in any neighborhood. The bark alone is worth the price of admission. In winter, when everything else looks bare and gray, those cinnamon and cream trunks catch the low sun and hold their own against any ornamental you can name.

Can you fix a crepe myrtle that’s been murdered?

Yes, but it takes patience. Stop topping it. The knobby stubs will send out multiple shoots. In the first spring after you stop topping, select two or three of the strongest new shoots on each stub and remove the rest. Those selected shoots will become the new branch framework.

Here’s the year-by-year plan:

Year one: Let the new shoots grow all season. Don’t touch them until the following February. The tree needs every leaf it can make to rebuild its energy reserves.

Year two: In late February, thin out the weak shoots, keeping only the two or three strongest on each knob. Remove any that cross or grow inward. The selected branches will start to thicken.

Year three: Continue selective thinning. By now the new branches should be pencil-thick or better. The canopy will start to look like a real tree again, not a hat rack.

It takes about three full growing seasons for the tree to develop a natural-looking canopy. The knobby cuts will always be visible on the trunk, but new growth will eventually draw the eye upward. Some people cut the knobs off flush with the trunk using a sharp saw once the new branch structure is established. This works if the knobs are small, but leave anything over 3 inches in diameter alone. Cutting it off opens too large a wound.

Dealing with powdery mildew

Powdery mildew (Erysiphe lagerstroemiae) is the number one disease problem for crepe myrtles in NorCal. It shows up in spring as a white powdery film on new leaves, shoots, and flower buds. It doesn’t usually kill the tree, but it’s ugly and it can stunt flower production.

The fix is two-pronged:

Cultural controls come first. An open, well-pruned canopy with good air circulation cuts mildew risk by half or more. Water at the base, not overhead. Clean up fallen leaves in autumn since the fungus overwinters on leaf litter.

If you’re planting new, pick a resistant variety. ‘Natchez,’ ‘Tuscarora,’ ‘Tonto,’ ‘Sioux,’ and ‘Muskogee’ all have strong mildew resistance bred into them. The older varieties like ‘Watermelon Red’ and ‘Carolina Beauty’ are mildew magnets. If you’re tired of fighting white fuzz every May, replace with a resistant cultivar.

For severe cases, apply a horticultural oil spray in early spring before buds break. Neem oil also works as a preventive when applied every two weeks in April and May. Once the mildew is established on leaves, you’re managing it, not curing it, until next season.

Hire right or learn right

If you’re not confident pruning your crepe myrtle yourself, hire a certified arborist. Not a lawn care crew. Not the guy with a truck and a chainsaw. A certified arborist with ISA credentials who knows what proper structural pruning looks like. Look for the ISA Certified Arborist credential. You can search the ISA database at treesaregood.org to find one near you.

Expect to pay $150 to $300 for a professional crepe myrtle pruning, depending on the size and number of trees. That’s for real pruning, not topping. If someone quotes you $50 and shows up with a reciprocating saw, send them home.

If you want to learn to do it yourself, spend an hour watching proper pruning videos before you pick up your tools. The ISA’s “Trees Are Good” site has free resources on proper pruning technique. Our article on tree trimming tips covers the basics that apply to every species in your yard, and our spring tree care checklist will help you put pruning into a full seasonal maintenance plan.

Frequently asked questions

Does pruning crepe myrtles make them bloom more? Crepe myrtles bloom on new wood, so they’ll flower whether you prune or not. Proper pruning directs the tree’s energy into fewer, stronger branches that hold bigger flower clusters upright. Topping produces more but weaker branches with flopping flowers. Less is more.

Can I trim my crepe myrtle in summer? Light pruning to remove spent flower clusters (deadheading) can encourage a second flush of blooms in late summer. But don’t do structural pruning in summer. You’ll stress the tree during its most active growth period and remove developing flower buds.

How tall do crepe myrtles get? Depends entirely on the variety. Dwarf cultivars like ‘Pocomoke’ stay 3 to 5 feet. Mid-size varieties like ‘Tonto’ reach 12 to 15 feet. Full-size trees like ‘Natchez’ grow 25 to 30 feet tall and 15 to 20 feet wide. Pick the right size for your space and you’ll never be tempted to top.

Should I seal pruning cuts with wound paint? No. Research from the USDA Forest Service showed decades ago that wound sealants don’t prevent decay and may actually slow the tree’s natural wound-sealing process. Make a clean cut at the branch collar and let the tree handle the rest.

My crepe myrtle is planted too close to the house. What should I do? If it’s a large variety within 5 feet of your foundation, remove it and replant with a dwarf or semi-dwarf cultivar. You’ll spend less money on one removal and a new $40 tree than on 20 years of annual topping. Topping doesn’t fix the root issue. The roots keep growing at full size no matter how short you keep the top.

Your crepe myrtle will bloom beautifully without being hacked to pieces. For more crepe myrtle care tips, including seasonal maintenance and shaping advice, the full picture is covered there. Give it a proper trim and let it do what it does best.