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Crepe Myrtle doesn't bloom

melissa_thefarm

17 years ago

We have had a crepe myrtle in the ground for about two years now, and have not seen it flower since we planted it. It was bought as a large potted plant, in bloom, and it looks good, but it doesn't flower, also doesn't set and abort buds that I see. The plant looks very healthy, with no disease, no bugs, and with polished, happy foliage. We live in Italy, and I'm not at all sure this is natural crepe myrtle country, as we have a heavy clay soil and droughty summers. The site has some shade, more sun, the planting hole was amended with organic matter and the plant is kept well mulched and gets some water when it gets really dry. It's in one of the cooler spots of our property, has not gotten cold enough in winter to get frozen back since we've had it. Our area has a mild climate, with winter lows seldom falling below 10F, but with abundant winter chill (to give you an idea, we have both lilacs and Lady Banks roses growing in the same area as the crepe myrtle). Is it possible that some conditions that the plant requires to set buds are not being met? Any help is appreciated.

Melissa

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Comments (7)

eldo1960
17 years ago
This is a shot in the dark, but it sounds to me that direct sunlight may be the critical factor. The more direct sun crape myrtles get, the better they bloom.
How warm are your high temps? They like warm/hot weather.
melissa_thefarm
Original Author
17 years ago
Hi, eldo. Thanks for writing.

Summers are plenty warm, I'd say, with weeks of highs in the eighties to nineties during the day (during our current drought it's been getting over a hundred), though cooling at night to the seventies, at times sixties. Our heat-loving roses are blessedly happy here, for example.

I'll consider the shade factor, though this plant isn't in shade, to be honest, not under a tree. It does get a good deal of sun. Also, in my dad's yard in Florida (where I am now) I notice that the crepe myrtles with shade are really reaching for the heavens, extremely leggy, while this plant is healthily compact.

Could the dry summer conditions be a problem, dry air I mean? ?????

Thanks for the input.

Melissa
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Natches Crepe myrtles usually grow fast when they are young and are one of the potentially tallest growing cultivars of CMs. Yours likely get the right amount of water they like during their spring growth flush, and the nitrogen issue will definately compound that fast growth issue. The tree that is not blooming could be getting less direct sun rays. Is there a tall tree or some other structure that is out of the shot, but which is tall enough to cast signifcant hours of shade on that CM. If so that could be another reason you CM is not blooming yet, even though the Natches on the other end of the house has begun to bloom. Personally if I wanted a corner accent CMs I would not have chosen the Natches cultivar. Especially considering that those multi trunks have the potential to get overly thick and the canopy they each produce can end up being more massive than one would think they might want spreading so close to the corner of house. Guess to avoid such issues, either late winter or very early next spring, you could do corrective pruning that transforms your Cms to single trunk trees. but whether or not you choose to do that you will find the you also will need to yearly raise each tree's canopy, until the yearly pruning time arrives when your trees are tall enough that their canopies are higher than your roof line and are no longer close enough to hang down on and brush against your house shingles.
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What I did this year was remove the lowest limbs. I did not do this for the bloom, I just like the look of the multiple trunks. The bark of a Crape is part of the attraction (color and bark naturally exfoliates). I would give the tree some time. I don't know if it's patience, I just have so many gardening interests that any particular tree or shrub might sulk for a few years w.o. me even noticing. Trees and shrubs are not said to be fully established for up to three years after planting! So too, It might be a soil thing. I did feed mine once in the season as it was pushing new growth, otherwise I do nothing special for them. Make sure you clear the weeds over the drop line and do mulch. (Summers here are usually wet enough to eliminate the need for any watering.) Boy oh boy, do the honeybees love their blossoms!
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Definately do cut out at the base, all trunks in your CM that are blooming pink. Then be certain to pinch off any new growth that the roots of those cut off branches try to keep growing. If you keep the new growth pinched off then only those roots should suffer,and the white blooming branches should begin to experience an advantage, which helps them to prosper more. Unless it is just the lighting cast on the day you took that photo of the pink blooms, the pink blooming trunks might be a Biloxi Crape Myrtle. Those bubblegum pink blooms, in my opinion are a much nicer sight than some of the more pale easily washed out pinks that some CMs produce. Anyway I only tell you this to let your know that if you do like that particular pink color and would like to have a CM growing someplace else with that color, Than simply order or find at some local nursery a Biloxi Crape Myrtle that is already blooming and that you can confirm it really is a Biloxi Crape Myrtle.
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melissa_thefarm
Original Author
17 years ago
Well, we finally got a centimeter of rain and the temperature dropped into the sixties, to my husband's enormous belief, and THE CREPE MYRTLE HAS BURST INTO BLOOM.

I don't know if the rain triggered it (though it has been watered adequately for health) or whether August is just its regular flowering time in Italy--it doesn't get hot here until May, and perhaps a prolonged spell of heat is needed to bring on the flowering? In any case, all is well.

Melissa
sheila54
15 years ago
planted 5 crepe mryles 3 years ago .I live in mobile , al. 2 bloomed for the 1st time last year but 3 have never bloomed. All look very healthy. all are in sun with some shade late in the day. all my neighbors crepes are blooming. need help
jjacobsnyc
8 years ago
My CM wasn't blooming while everyone else's was.... My lawn guy said WATER! So we did, a lot, and voila, big beautiful blooms.
User
8 years ago
I'm kind of surprised; I was under the impression that crepe myrtles were very, very drought-tolerant! But here in Tuscany, Italy, they do certainly only start blooming in late July/August...
User
8 years ago
They may be drought tolerant, but here in the East and Southeast, they are growing in areas that AVERAGE 40-60 inches of rain annually despite the droughts. It's all relative!

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