Say “No!” to Butchery

It’s been several years since I wrote on this topic here. Since gardeners and landscape crews are sharpening their pruning tools now that the holidays are behind us, I thought this would be the best time to fight this silly battle again.

Here’s what people have claimed…
I’ll follow their statements with the true facts.

“Everyone else is doing it so I thought it was the right thing to do.”
I’m sorry, but that one doesn’t deserve a reply.

“My plant had grown too tall.” (Or too wide.)
It’s going to grow right back. Genes are genes. A crape myrtle that has the genes to grow 20 ft. tall is going to grow 20 ft. tall whether you whack it or not. It doesn’t care how awful it looks in the process. It was put on Earth to grow 20 ft. tall.

Admit it: You chose the wrong variety. You should have chosen a shorter one. Either move it or remove it entirely.

“They’re blocking the views of my store.”
That’s what strip shopping center owners say as they hire crews to butcher their plants. And they don’t stop with just the crape myrtles. They go after the yaupons and live oaks – every plant that blocks any visibility at all.

Where are the cities who put in the tree ordinances in the first place? Choose varieties that stay short enough for visibility or position them off to the sides so they can be beautiful, not wounded warriors that bring shame to their surroundings.

“It makes my plant bloom better.”
If you’re talking about slowing the first round of blooms down by 6-8 weeks, yes, topping will do that.

If you’re talking about only getting one round of blooms per summer instead of three or four, yes, topping will do that.

If you’re talking about getting flower heads as big as watermelons – so big that they weight their stems down to the ground, yes, topping will do that as well.

But most of us aren’t turned on by any of those aberrations. We want as many rounds of blooms as we can get, early season to late season, and we prefer a plant that’s covered with mid-sized flower heads held straight up above plants with pride.

Anyone else? Bring ‘em on. If you don’t like crape myrtles, I can understand that. Just don’t plant them, then ruin them.

Can you tell that I’m passionate about this topic? I’m a calm guy normally, willing to compromise on most things, but not on this monkey-see, monkey-do practice of whacking our most beautiful summer-flowering shrub or small tree.

We can do better, Texas. Help spread the word!

And a parting note…
If you have a crape myrtle that has been whacked, or as they say, “crape murdered,” cut it to the ground and then train the sprouts that will always emerge. You can have a lovely new plant within just a couple of years, as did reader Beverly C. from Lubbock who shared this photographic proof from her own landscape.