It might be. It depends on how far north you are. Down here at the southern end of the state, my crape myrtles have leafed out but some of the ones in the interstate median either haven't leafed out at all or only some of them have partially leafed out. I don't know what folks further north than Love County are seeing. Crape myrtles can be pretty late to leaf out especially when the spring weather is cool and mild.

Mine started to leaf out a few days ago here on the south side of OKC.

Mine have leafed out here in NEOK.

I live in SW OKC and hope that they are just late because I have several and do not want to have to replace them

well, I have figured out that crepe myrtles bloom on new growth and the top of mine were dead. Have had to have them topped. How often do crepe myrtles have to be topped to keep them looking and blooming nice.

I notice mine started a couple weeks ago. We did have some pretty decent die back. I have some that are about 30 years old around the pool that just started to show some activity. I guess they like to sleep in.

Mike

I have a lot of winter die back this year for some reason. I'm going to have to cut all the way to the base and start over on several. Sharon, I never, ever have to top mine, and this is the first year I have had to cut to the base in 15 years.

cutting the tops off is referred to (not very kindly) as crepe murder :) Even though every landscape crew in the city does it, it is not recommended.

Here is Neil Sperry's explanation

I have a Black Diamond that I planted last summer. It is coming out very slowly from the base. Has anyone had one for longer than a year? I know they have not been on the market for very long, I was just wondering if they are hardy enough for central Okla.

Stockergal....for some reason there was widespread damage this year. I wouldn't judge anything based on this year.

I have had three Black Diamonds for two years and they leafed out fine and at about the same time as other local crape myrtles. I'm in zone 7b in southcentral OK so don't know how much difference there is in my weather and yours.

I forgot to add that I think they froze when we had that really early very cold spell before they were completely dormant last fall. That's the sort of weather that hurts crape myrtles and causes a lot of dieback.

I am posting about a week after the original post, and all of mine are growing well in Broken Arrow. Also, I cut mine way back to get the look I want. I am not as impressed with the Black Diamond ones. I do think they are pretty slow growing, and many of mine did not make it. It could have been my late purchases that hurt the growth.

Forgot to mention i too had a black diamond that came back. its was only about 2-3' tall last fall so I was worried but it came through just fine.

mike

hopefully I will not have to cut back again, as it is expensive and how long does it take to get new growth and bloom? I moved here 8 years ago and they were here so do not know how old they are. I have 8 of them and they are on the west side of yard and shade my yard in the late afternoon,. I enjoy them