Crape Myrtle Natchez zone 7 Survival?

13 years ago

I live in Oklahoma City and I purchased a 5 ft CM Natchez last year to replace a braford pear that fell. I chose this because it fits in a small space between my house and driveway and we need some shade from the western sun that shines into our kitchen all summer.

We had snow this winter and I am pretty positive that it has died back to the ground since all the branches are very briddle. It is on the NW side of our house so I konw it may have received some chilly winds. People say that it was an unusual winter, but since I have moved here 3 years ago, this has been the norm.

My question is, is it common for natchez to die back to the ground each year in Zone 7a or is this just because I purchased a young/small tree? Some people say that if I purchase a larger more established one that it should survive winters here, but I don't want to spend $250 on a tree if there is a possiblity I will have to replace it again soon. Because of how hot our kitchen gets, it is necessary to have some shade thorugh out the summer so I would like to purchase something that will be permenant. Will wraping the main trunks/branches in burlap help for winter protection?

Thanks!

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Comments (5)

j0nd03
13 years ago
Can't help you here. I had two crape myrtles that were the centerpiece of my bed in the front of the house die over the winter. One sent up 3 suckers from the base, the other is completely dead. Like a dummy, I planted two dynamite crape myrtles in their place at the wife's insistence.

Were they healthy when they entered dormancy? Mine got powdery mildew pretty bad just before leaf drop and we know what happened to those. I know we have been in a drought for a year and I believe you also have been?

Crape myrtles are hardy in our zone, though. My parents live about 30 minutes from my place and they have literally dozens of them. Some trimmed up every year, and others left to grow naturally. They have never lost a single one in about 15 years.
Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
13 years ago
huh, my wife picked out a zone 7 Dynamite at a local box store and we planted it. Every year for the last four it has suffered some die back but has gotten consistently larger. When I prune out the dead it even looks pretty darned good. A nice late summer flowering shrubby fella.

One thing one my mine is Crepe's leaf out awful late here. So while the maples and even most oaks and walnuts are showing activity I cant count ol Dynamite out yet.
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Thanks for the words of encouragement because I'm really dreading the prospect of contacting the nursery to have them "make good" on replacing the trees or refunding my money. So far, still not a sign of a leaf. I'm watering them every other day in this heat - can't win...don't know if I'm drowning them now or if I didn't give them enough water in the winter...I'm sure the nursery will try to blame me for whatever it ends up being, but every time I requested specific instructions, their attitude was not to worry about them - that Crape Myrtles are so hardy they can survive anything.
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If it can get to -20* in northwest AR and kill the crapes to the ground, I wouldn't get my hopes up too high in z6, sorry Toronado! Maybe as a potted specimen. Otherwise as much winter protection as you can spare would be the only way. Have you thought about taking a cutting of the one you see in the neighborhood? I would think that would be your best bet. It has clearly taken a z6 beating numerous times and survived. Crapes are about the toughest plants around here I have experienced. Maybe take a few cuttings to make sure you can get them to root. I dug a couple crapes out of my front bed that had only been there 1 year and I have suckers EVERYWHERE coming up from the severed roots. 1 I let grow and it shot up over 2' and flowered profusely. Good luck! John
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The garden center is selling trees so, of course, they want you to space them as closely together as you could be convinced was reasonable. I look for opportunities to see if the tree spacing can be coordinated with any of the background. Here, there is a fence panel repeating at distinct intervals -- probably 8'. Yet for the height of tree you need (as it will have proportionate width) that still seems like a bit tight of spacing, if you want the trees to display some character as individuals, and not just a monolithic background screen. As a compromise, I would consider a wider spacing, such as every other other fence panel (every 16' +/-) and making it a double row. That way you still get a solid screen, but the front row of trees stand out with enough separation from each other that they read as individuals, not just generic screening. (A single row at 8' on center would look like a giant hedge.) And you have plenty of yard depth to do it. Of course, the backs of the front row will blend together with the fronts of the back row, but since you won't see it from your primary viewpoint, it won't be a point that matters. With tree screening, the fence itself and the ground space below the trees can become quite dark. The fence will tend to disappear into a black hole. The conditions stand a good chance of being unfriendly to growing shrubs, and much more suitable to growing groundcover ... like a mass of ferns or something. At any rate, you'd probably want all the space below trees to be a bed rather than lawn, since grass isn't going to grow, giving you the opportunity to cut down on mowing. Natchez can be a lovely tree, but with a background of open sky -- often almost white -- a white flower color strikes me as likely to be disappointingly underwhelming. In your inspiration picture, where there is dark forest behind the right-side trees, the white flowers stand out. But at the left-side trees, the white flowers are lost in the upper portion of the trees. 'Muskogee' -- also a big crape -- strikes me as a much more effective flower color choice. Anything BUT white in a big crape would work.
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miks2442
Original Author
13 years ago
By my account the tree was in excellant health when it went into dormancy. I watered it thoroughly on warm days all winter. I know they leaf late, but the branches snap with no problem and have no green in them at all. I am getting suckers from the base so I know I can replant it somewhere else and start from scratch which is one good thing! I just need something that will stay large for that area. Thanks for answers so far.
j0nd03
13 years ago
That is exactly what happened to mine. When I pruned mine even two months ago, I had green on areas I pruned. Now, everything is brown and snaps with little effort.

Buying a larger tree will make no difference on survival. Establishment of the plant itself will. However, when I dug up my dead ones, they both had roots extending about 7-8 feet and had only been in the ground less than 1 year.
Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A
13 years ago
We get lots of snow every winter and we have beautiful crapes here. The presence of snow has little to do with it. It's the c-c-c-cold temperatures and wind.

A minimum temperature for a zone 7 winter is around 0 degrees. I think you may have had an especially brutal winter in OK this last winter (set records in fact) and perhaps your temps had gotten to well below 0? If that's the case, that is why your crape myrtle died down to the ground. That and it was newly planted.

I'd replant a large one as soon as you can. Keep it well watered and mulched going into winter and pray for a milder winter!

Crape Myrtle Natchez zone 7 Survival?

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j0nd03

Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis

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j0nd03

Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A

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Crape Myrtle Natchez zone 7 Survival?

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j0nd03

Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis

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miks2442Original Author

j0nd03

Dave in NoVA • N. Virginia • zone 7A

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