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I have a crape myrtle that is now leaning quite a bit due to a larger tree that was in my yard which caused the crape to bend to get sun. I have taken down the larger tree and I'm wondering if it is possible that the crape will straighten back out/bounce back. Thoughts or is the tree now this way permanently.
It’ll likely start sending out sprouts from the base, and those will grow towards that side. Crape Myrtles are tough, you could cut the whole thing flush to the ground, and it’ll come right back.
I think the entire tree just needs a really thorough pruning everywhere to make it shorter all over and the new growth that comes back afterwards will come up straighter, fuller and bushier.
After you prune it back you could straighten it out a bit more over the course of a couple of years by pulling each of the main trunks back away from the direction it had been growing in towards the fence by anchoring them with rubber straps and heavy stakes but you won't be able to get it perfectly straight that way. And you would have to work more soil in on top of the roots if you stake it to straighten it because staking it that way would loosen the roots on the fence side that you're pulling it away from and compact the roots on the opposite side of the trunk on the pulling side.
It's probably just better to give it a good pruning first of all and wait to see how it responds with the new growth before deciding if you want to try pulling it back.
Your username suggests that you live in Westchester. Crapes are fine for our metro area (NY/LI/Westchester) winters.
You might get some branch damage from heavy snow loads but the temps won't kill it.
But if you live "upstate" (i.e. anywhere north of Westchester County, LOL) then IMHO a crape would be dicey.
The crapes with the Native American cultivar names are usually hardy through Zone 6 but not colder. I would be less certain about the non-Native-American-name cultivars and consider those to be Zone 7 comfort zone. I've grown various crape myrtle cultivars in my LI gardens for decades and we are Zone 7 here.
Westchester is considered Zone 6b (the warmer part of Zone 6) so any of the aforementioned cultivar group should be fine. This web site claims zone 5 but IMHO that is hyperbole. But any of these will be fine in the Yorktown NY area:
I saw a crape myrtle at Home Depot today. I have never seen one for sale this far north before (NY).
I wonder if it would survive my winter?
We had a neighbor two houses away in Nanuet ( Rockland County NY ) who planter over a dozen of them that he purchased in SC and they grew to a 15 foot tall hedge in no time, in New York❗️
Your username suggests that you live in Westchester. Crapes are fine for our metro area (NY/LI/Westchester) winters.
You might get some branch damage from heavy snow loads but the temps won't kill it.
But if you live "upstate" (i.e. anywhere north of Westchester County, LOL) then IMHO a crape would be dicey.
The crapes with the Native American cultivar names are usually hardy through Zone 6 but not colder. I would be less certain about the non-Native-American-name cultivars and consider those to be Zone 7 comfort zone. I've grown various crape myrtle cultivars in my LI gardens for decades and we are Zone 7 here.
Westchester is considered Zone 6b (the warmer part of Zone 6) so any of the aforementioned cultivar group should be fine. This web site claims zone 5 but IMHO that is hyperbole. But any of these will be fine in the Yorktown NY area:
We had a neighbor two houses away in Nanuet ( Rockland County NY ) who planter over a dozen of them that he purchased in SC and they grew to a 15 foot tall hedge in no time, in New York❗️
Can't imagine purchasing plants in SC for NY.
Thanks for the info.
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