Unless you had an excessively harsh winter, crapes should not have any problem in 7b. I am wondering if you planted them too deeply. You should be able to see the root flare, that is where the roots begin to flare away from the trunk. Frequently trees and tree type shrubs will show evidence of top die back if planted too deeply. Also, crapes like dry conditions with minimal fertilization. Mine are completly leafed out.

Thanks for your response. I don't think they are planted too deeply, funny that you mention dry conditions. The nursery that I called said it sounded like I hadn't watered them enough, because we've had a dry spring so far. They started to leaf out on the lower half, but we had a freak freeze here last weekend and the leaves turned black. I think the die back happened before the freeze though. Yet my 1 year older trees have virtually no die back.

I hope they flower this year at all, trying to be optimistic.

Yes, it can be normal, depending epecially if your area encountered drought last summer, or if the trunks of these CMs you planted last Spring were less than 1//1/2 inches thick.

That is especially true if right after you planted them last year a late spring freeze occured in your area after they had broken dormancy, and especially if your area was hit with this year's late freeze around the Easter week that hit much of the country.

Now, all you can do is to feed them well and again after their first bloom. You also must make certain they receive at least 1 inch of good soaking rain each week, and if not give them at least that amount of supplimental watering. Finally, just wait until they bloom to see if your young CMS can recover those currently damaged tops of the trunks.

If they do not recover, then by late summer, the dead part of each trunk needs to be cut off, back to a bud which is growing fairly straight up and looks to be a good candidate to resume the role of becoming a continuation of that Trunks' multiple leader role.

Try to continue the feeding cycle as needed, but also make certain to end that feeding cycle in time for any new growth to harden off well enough that colder winter temps will not as easily freeze that newest growth.

I, too, recently planted four 3 gallon potted sized, Tuscaroras which suffered even worse than the description you gave about your CMs' damage, but there is one I planted 3 years ago which never showed any signs of winter damage to its three main trunks. The description of how I planted that tree and what factors were present to help it survive so well is described in the following paragraphs of this reply post.

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About 3 years ago in the late summer, or early Fall, I planted a three trunked, 11 foot tall Tuscarora Crepe Myrtle; to grow as to grow as a speciman tree at a friends house where a maple tree's 6 inch trunked Maple had been broke off, during a storm.

After the Maple tree's roots was pulled out of the ground, a large hole had to be filled. It took a half ton pick-up truck's bed filled with fertile sandy loam garden soil. Prior to filling the hole, mixed amendments into the clay soil found around the bottom and sides of the 10' wide and about 2'-3' deep hole. Then filled the hole with a mixture of the garden soil and 4 huge bags of Miracle Grow potting soil purchased from Sam's Warehouse. Along with all of that I also mixed in more slow release non-burning food.

After planting the Tuscarora in the very middle of this refilled Bed, I planted 4 "White New Dawn' climbing roses around the tree. For each of the rose bushes, I mixed into the soil a bag of rose bush, soil amendement. The Bed was finished off with a planting of a hedge of dwarf Youpon 'nana' holly which acts like a boarder to help contain the rose canes which grow long and are wrapped in a circle around the bed.

This Tuscarora I planted for my friend has not suffered any trunk die back at any time during the first 3 winters and early spring freeze events, after the tree was planted in the above described bed. The only reasons I can determine as to the health of the tree, is that the tree must have stayed very healthy and unstressed due to the fertile bed it was planted in; also due to how thick its trunks were when first planted; along with the tree being kept well watered with a soaking hose we had wrapped throughout the bed, around the tree and under the roses.

To repeat my response to your similar question in the Transplanted CM thread -

Yes, it can happen, especially if the plant was growing in a well protected area and made a lot of new growth late in the summer/early fall. Because this growth would not have hardened off as well as it might have done, it would be liable to cold damage over the winter. This sounds like what happened to yours.
Trim off the dead stuff, when you are SURE it is dead, trimming back to the trunk or to a larger-diameter branch OR to an outward facing bud. Doing that, you should avoid getting a mess of small growth, all from one point, as CMs will do after they have been "Crepe Murdered" or cut to a stub.

thanks Katrina and Dibbit, do you think I can expect flowering this summer?

There is a good chance that your newer CMs' root balls are still alive. Additionally, the parts of the trunks which have not clearly already died back will produce blooms on any branch's new growth your CMs produce as the spring continues and as they get the supplimental feeding and watering that they need. Also the tree's roots may send up new shoots which will bloom.

For an undamaged tree, my advice would be to cut off those new shoots that sprout from the root ball; in your situation though, any leaves forming on those otherwise considered trash shoots should become helpful to convert sunlight into more food for the roots.

my reasoning for such a conclustion concerns the potential for slight amounts of root deprivation, which your new trees' roots might suffer, depending on what percentage of the main trunks and branches have already died.

If you do choose to let those shoots continue to grow, and if you do not want the CMs to develop into huge shrubs instead of a nice clean trunked tree form; then early next year's spring, just prior to leaf bud-break, you could prune off those shoots.

Since CMs flower on new wood, they should flower this summer. It might be just as normal, and might be a bit sparser, depending on how much damage the tree had. If the sprouts from the bottom are the only live wood, then there may be very few.

New plants can be more sensitive to cold damage than older, more established plants are, it all "just depends". As the CM gets older, and if you manage to miss out on late frosts for several days next year, your CM should be fine in future years.

I have a double row of crape myrtles planted across my property, Tontos. Last spring there was about a foot or more die back in the tops of all of them. They have been in for seven years. This was the first time there has been die back. Tontos are a shrub variety growing about 8-12 feet depending on how far south you are. The Tuscaroras and Natchez row did not have the die back. These are the tree types.

I believe the reason had nothing to do with the variety, but rather lack of moisture the previous fall of 2005 and drought in the early part of 2006. The tontos are planted on a ridge which tends to dry out more than the ones on the side of my property.

I beieve there is no typical winter die back. I am farther north than you are and other than that caused by the drought, I have had no winter die back in seven years. I have 175 crape myrtles on my property.

I simply cut out the winter die back. At first, I decided to leave it, thinking the newer, lower growth would hide the die back, but decided that the die would be unsightly and could leave a way for insects and disease to attack the crape myrtles.

One last thought, have you given them time to completely come out yet, we have had unusual cold weather at times this year. I have no sign of life on mine. Last year they were coming out about now. Trees and shrubs will start to green up lower on the stems before greening up at the tops. Of course, you can snap or thumb nail scrap the stems to see if there is any green.

I have two CM's in my yard and both were starting to leaf when that awful freeze hit us a couple of weeks ago and all the leaves were affected on both trees; they look awful now. Will they grow new leaves this spring/summer?

Most gardeners have a problem with the concept of benign neglect. Crepe Myrtles fall in the catagory of plants best left alone once established. Freshly planted anything requires ample moisture until established. Crepes will respond with lots of leaves, new growth and few flowers if over fertilized. Regarding pruning, decide how many canes you want and keep new ones cut off at ground level. Trim crossing branches to give the plant good shape. Never, never top a crepe unless you want a badly misshapened tree/bush with clusters of ugly water shoots. Now, the original question was about die back. I plant new crepes in the spring to give them ample time to develope before colder temps. Make sure they have had enough time to fully open before attempting to remove any dead material. After that, make sure they have good moisture and resist the temptation to fertilize them.

We had record high temperatures the first part of April causing the CM to leaf out. In mid April we had freezing weather. Since then it lost all of it's leaves and the bark is falling off all branches and stems. Is dead or should we wait for a couple of weeks? Temperatures now are in the normal range, mid 79's.

Hi in NC and Southern VA they are just beginning to leaf out.

Ducky, it may still leaf out, although the stems and branches with split bark may not make it. Wait and see. If all the trunks are dead - which isn't too likely - then you should get growth from the roots. Thin that growth to the 3-5 strongest ones, and cut off the dead trunks as soon as you are sure they really are dead. Just be careful, if that's the case, that you don't damage the new shoots.

I have 8 CMs. 2 had just begun to leaf out before Easter. The ones that hadn't yet started are only now beginning to show swollen buds. I figure I will have some tips of branches to trim off, but I am waiting to see, so it may be June before I am done tidying up my CMs.

I planted 5 CMs (2 Siouxs, 2 Miamis and 1 Tuscarora) into the ground last August. All of them are sprouting leaves now except Tuscarora which is still very bare.

Anyway, Laurie grower, about the question on your Tuscarora, funny you should ask as it just dawned on me about the condition of my Tuscarora--why it isn't doing as well as the others. According to this link, I found out that Tuscarora is susceptible to winter damage and may be heavily infested with aphids. Now I'm thinking of replacing it with an Osage because what I'm most afraid of is that it will attract aphids and then have them spread to my surrounding plants.

Since I'm a newbie with gardening myself, I would appreciate any further feedback here.

http://www.clemson.edu/crapemyrtle/tuscarora.htm