Blooms can also fade with the sun - did the blooms come in this summer as "advertised"/the correct color, and then change over time to the whiter color, or did they bloom as the whiter/lighter color? I have also seen both 'Dynamite' and 'Red Rocket' throw an occasional pink or white-edged bloom or cluster of blooms, which is seemingly considered "normal" for the cultivar(s), and is more likely to happen early on in the season. Do you know if your dad did anything differently than what you are doing, as far as cultivation practices - feeding, watering, lawn care, etc.? My CMs flowered later and not as full than I remember this year - although my memory may also be faulty! The spring was weird, and went into a weirder summer, what with drought again, and extreme early heat, so I am not expecting "normal" flowering from them. While your weather may have been more normal for you this spring/summer, if you got the drought last summer that I did, your CMs may have been under some stress, and if your weather or gardening practices didn't totally relieve the stress, the flowers might reflect that. As you can see, I have no answers, only ideas of possible reasons.... I would water well, be careful about feeding, and give them another year before getting out the shovel!

I would not recommend Crepe Myrtles AT ALL they provide ZERO shade and are best used as a border tree for privacy and they grow Straight up and down even as a mature tree. I always shake my head when people plant these in their front lawns as they are going to be very disappointed. They are the WORST tree for shade and are on the most hated list for tree preservation groups because the cities always tries to pass these off as planting shade trees to meet quota. They are again only good for border trees and a punch of color not a shade tree AT ALL. I always try to warn people away from planting these in their front lawn.. ughh ..I would pick a Jacaranda every time just plant it close to the edge of your front lawn so the roots are not a problem and provide shade to your lawn and sidewalk. Also FYI if the tree roots rise which they shouldn't if planted deep enough and in proper planting sacks , the city is responsible for maintaining that tree in most cities. Within 5-15 feet in from the sidewalk most cities have responsibility for tree growth maintenance ie tree roots which is why I encourage people to plant as close the curb as possible. Consult your local tree foundations as to city responsibility to canopy within 5-15 feet.. Also while these trees are incredibly fast growing trees it will take some time before it ever becomes an issue if at all, we are talking decades.. by then your tree is most likely under protection of city tree ordinances. LUCKY YOU!

Sammy, On that website, I believe they're referring to topping, which is really overdone in commercial landscapes in Texas and is commonly referred to as 'crape murder' by folks who don't like the look of severely topped crape myrtles. I'd never argue with anyone's right to prune their own shrubs and trees as they see fit and I do my share of pruning my current shrubs, but I do understand the 'crape murder' viewpoint with regard to commercial plantings in Texas...like those around shopping centers, restaurants and office buildings. The landscape maintenance companies prune the poor things back to one or two or three trunks severely topped and when they bloom some of the poor things just look bizarre--big, fluffy flower heads on trunks with relatively little foliage. It can give almost a bonsai look to the plants and often the plants bend over towards the ground because the trunks can't support the big fluffy flowerheads...and that causes the crape myrtles to be pruned back even harder because they're obstructing sidewalks. If they'd just chosen the right size plant for those commercial plantings, they wouldn't be spending nearly as much time cutting them back. With the crape myrtles in your yard, I can understand why you prune them to maintain them at a certain height so they don't interfere with your enjoyment of all your roses. I always thought I'd plant crape myrtles here, and yet we've been here 11 years and I haven't planted a single one. One reason is that I don't want to plant anything that needs a lot of pruning, and the likely sites where I could put them are places where I'd have to go with naturally smaller ones or do a lot of pruning. You'd laugh at us...every single year we say "we need to plant some crape myrtles" and then we don't do it. I guess we either need to plant some, or just stop saying it. I love them when they're in bloom, but hate the pruning. I always pruned my crape myrtle back to just a few main trunks too back in Texas, or the monster would have taken over the entire front yard and also would have intruded into the next door neighbor's yard. I did sometimes dig up a sucker and transplant it elsewhere or give it away to someone who wanted one. I didn't do much other pruning, except to remove dead flowerheads when I could reach them. I also pruned up side shoots that came out at angles that interfered with our ability to walk in the yard, mow around it, etc. and that, of course, encouraged even more upright growth. I don't see nearly as much 'crape murder' occuring in southern OK as I see in north central Texas where it is epidemic in commercial plantings and I think that one thing they're trying to say on the website is to pick a crape myrtle that's the right size for the space available so you don't have to do excessive amounts of pruning. It can be really hard for homeowners to buy crape myrtles that are the right size if they don't do their research up front, because often crape myrtle plant tags don't always clearly state the mature size of the variety. I've noticed that in some stores, the tags only say something like 'lavender crape myrtle' or 'pink crape myrtle' and don't even give a variety name so you don't even know the mature height of what you're buying. The battle between those who like to prune their crape myrtles back hard and those think such pruning is 'crape murder' is pretty fierce in some areas. Personally, I think everyone should do what makes them happy in their own landscape! Dawn

I just hate seeing crape murder, especially on the larger varieties of CM's. I just can't bring myself to tell my neighbors that they've got it all wrong since they think their landscape guy hung the moon and all. Sadly, they're so ruined from years of this that they'd have to be cut down to stumps and allowed to regrow to look decent again. I rail against the practice whenever possible though. A couple of years ago I was talking to another neighbor that has a beautiful 20-25' Natchez. She thought maybe it needed to be topped since that's what some neighbors were doing. I did manage to talk her out of that, at least for now, thankfully!