10/08/2026
🌳 IT’S TIME… I’M CALLING IT. CREPE MYRTLE PRUNING TIME.
Well… sort of. 😂
Every year I have the same argument with myself.
Should I prune her?
Shouldn’t I prune her?
Is it too early?
Will I stuff it up?
Maybe I’ll just walk past and pretend I didn’t see her.
But before you go charging outside with the secateurs, there’s actually one question you need to answer first…
WHY are you pruning your Crepe Myrtle?
Because here’s something that surprises a lot of people.
Crepe Myrtles don’t actually NEED pruning.
Yep.
You can leave a beautiful Crepe Myrtle completely alone and she’ll quite happily grow, flower and do her thing.
BUT…
Maybe yours is getting a tad too big.
Maybe it needs shaping.
Maybe you’ve got some dead wood, rubbing branches or branches crossing through the middle.
Maybe you want to lift the canopy.
Or maybe, like me as a kid, you’ve been handed a pair of secateurs and suddenly developed the confidence of a fully qualified tree surgeon. 😂
When I was a kid, the Crepe Myrtle was pretty much the one tree Mum let me absolutely HACK every winter.
And hack it I did.
Years later I discovered this actually had a fancy name.
POLLARDING.
Who knew? Apparently Mum had accidentally given me horticultural training.
We’d cut them hard back to basically the same framework every year.
The beautiful mottled trunks became the feature through winter, the new growth stayed at a manageable height and when they flowered, the flowers were down around eye level instead of somewhere up near the neighbour’s TV antenna.
It worked brilliantly.
But bloody hell… it was a job EVERY YEAR.
And today we really don’t need to do that unless that’s the look you want.
Crepe Myrtles have changed enormously.
There are now smaller varieties, different growth habits and just about every flower colour you could poke a secateur at.
Over the last few years we growers have also been growing heaps of them as multi-trunk feature trees, branching much lower than the traditional street-tree shape.
And I LOVE them like this.
Three, four or five beautiful trunks showing off that gorgeous smooth mottled bark, then a canopy sitting above it.
We even shape some into cloud-style trees.
They’re basically becoming living garden sculptures.
And then there’s the BIG reason everyone suddenly gets itchy secateur fingers in winter…
THE SEED HEADS.
Everyone wants to cut the bloody things off!
I actually love them.
Once the leaves disappear, those seed heads give the tree another bit of character through winter.
So don’t think they HAVE to come off.
Now here’s where timing actually matters.
🥶 FROST.
Crepe Myrtles themselves are very frost hardy once dormant.
The problem isn’t necessarily the tree.
It’s what happens AFTER you prune it.
A good prune combined with warming weather can encourage the tree to wake up and start producing fresh growth.
Depending on temperatures, you can start seeing that new growth within roughly 2–4 weeks once conditions are warm enough.
And those beautiful soft new shoots?
A decent frost can give them an almighty smack.
So around Echuca, Moama and Shepparton, I’d rather prune towards the back end of winter than get overexcited too early.
There’s no trophy for being the first bloke in the street to prune his Crepe Myrtle.
Wait until the worst of those savage frosts are behind us, then get into it.
SO WHAT SHOULD YOU ACTUALLY CUT?
Start with the obvious stuff.
✂️ Dead or damaged wood
✂️ Branches rubbing against each other
✂️ Branches growing back through the centre
✂️ Weak, messy shoots you don’t want
✂️ Suckers coming from the base
✂️ Then shape it for the SIZE and STYLE you actually want.
And remember…
You’re pruning with a purpose, not punishing it for something it did last summer.
Now for the question we hear EVERY year:
“CRAIG… WHY WON’T MY CREPE MYRTLE FLOWER?”
Before blaming the poor tree, check these:
☀️ SUN, SUN AND MORE SUN.
Crepe Myrtles love full sun. Too much shade is one of the first things I’d investigate with a reluctant flowerer.
🌿 DON’T LOVE IT TO DEATH WITH NITROGEN.
Too much high-nitrogen fertiliser can give you a magnificent green leafy monster that seems to have completely forgotten flowers exist.
✂️ DON’T KEEP PRUNING THE NEW GROWTH OFF.
Crepe Myrtles flower on the season’s new growth. Once it gets moving, let those shoots grow and mature so they can produce flowers.
💧 WATER IT PROPERLY.
Especially while establishing and through hot, dry periods. A seriously stressed tree isn’t concentrating on putting on a floral spectacular.
🌳 GIVE IT TIME.
Sometimes young or recently transplanted trees are simply busy establishing themselves.
So there you go.
Do you HAVE to prune a Crepe Myrtle? NO.
Can you prune one? ABSOLUTELY.
Will they generally respond beautifully to sensible pruning? YES.
And if you love the seed heads like I do…
Leave the bloody things there.
Winter gardens don’t have to be completely bald just because someone bought a new pair of secateurs. 😂
And one last thing from me…
Next time you’re out shopping for new plants, why not give your local family-owned nursery a go?
Because a proper nursery is more than a concrete shed, a few shade sails and a trolley of marked-down plants nobody knows anything about.
We’re plant people.
We know what grows locally, what doesn’t, where to plant it, when to prune it and, most importantly, we’ll give you FREE advice that actually works in your garden.
And if you’re around Echuca or Shepparton, pop in and see our Plantfarm crew.
We don’t just sell plants.
We actually grow them too.
Thousands of them, grown locally and out in our conditions, so they’re tough, hardened and climate-ready for your backyard.
Sometimes buying local isn’t about spending more.
It’s about buying the right plant the first time… and having someone there to tell you what the bloody hell to do with it. 😂
Support your local nursery.
Support local growers.
Keep good horticultural knowledge alive.
Now I want to know…
ARE YOU A CREPE MYRTLE PRUNER… OR DO YOU LEAVE YOURS ALONE?
And who else has stood underneath one with secateurs having exactly the same argument with themselves?
Craig 🌳
Plantfarm | Echuca & Shepparton
