Dwarf Crepe Myrtle

[Jeremy]

This is a Crepe ive been working on. It is a dwarf cultivar known as 'Covergirl' here in Australia. The flowers are pink but unlike the full size variety, this thing flowers persistently. I was of the frame of mind that Crepes only flower on this seasons growth, therefore, to see it in bloom would result in an ugly untrimmed bush. This tree was pruned back to 1 pair of leaves on a weekly basis throughout the last growing season and eventually flowered profusely. I was pulling flower buds to focus on branch growth but it defeated me in the end so i had to give up and just enjoy the beauty...

It was purchased for the twisty base, the rest of the growth was straight and boring as seen in the first photo. I cut it down winter 2012 and began to work it as a triple trunk. Winter 2013 saw a repot and a more dynamic angle was found. The 2012 design would've resulted in a much too large canopy sitting on top of three relatively thin trunks.

It is now winter '14 and I have cut back and applied a little bit of wire. Its more of a cascading/raft style and i hope a few more years ramification will bring the whole image together. the long thick branch moving across the right is a sacrifice and will be cut off next year.

I would love feedback. I understand there is only so much one can tell from a photo but any comments are better than none.

 

[jk_lewis]

The base is nice and interesting, a good raft beginning. The trunks, however, go off higglty-pigglty in every direction so it looks a tngled mess. You probably will need to decide which way you want the tree to move and start some of the trunks over.

 

[JudyB]

It's quite nice, although I agree that there is too much going on in too many directions. I love multi trunked trees, but they have to have some sort of order to them to appear cohesive.
Interesting that it blooms more than once.
BTW welcome to the forum.

 

[jkd2572]

Not really. We have thousands of crepe myrtles in my area and they bloom all summer.

 

[edprocoat]

I really like the 5th picture above as a front for this. I would remove the lower left branch that pokes towards the viewer, the rest looks like its been swept back from steady wind. It would not take much to have a decent windswept clump with the flowers and all it would be nice.

ed

 

[JudyB]

Not really. We have thousands of crepe myrtles in my area and they bloom all summer.

But that doesn't make it "interesting"? I didn't say unusual.... But it is interesting to me that it blooms all summer, as I have not seen it.

 

[Jeremy]

The Crepes flower from early summer to mid autumn here. I was always of the belief you had to let the tree run all season in order to get flowers, but this dwarf flowered profusely after being trimmed almost weekly all spring. I let shoots get to 3-5 pairs and cut back to the first pair.


First off, thanks for the welcome, Judy. I agree with what has been said. Ive added a crappy paint photo to explain.
The red branch is a sacrifice.
The yellow branch is actually the apex of the first trunk.
The purple trunk i thought of last season as a sacrifice branch but have found myself wanting to develop it this season. It just seems to fill out the tree?
And then the blue apex of the main trunk, needs to move to the left with the rest of the tree...

 

[JudyB]

Yes I see your direction, and I like it. Once you get rid of the sacrifice, it all tails in nicely with itself. Will look much more composed when it's ready and you get it into a pot where you can see the details better.

 

[Jeremy]

Thanks Judy. I will remove the sacrifice in about 12 months, the tree will stay in the colander putting on root mass during this time. Then will be the fun part to find a suiable pot.
Im thinking with the new angle at repot, this tree will probably only fit in a crescent pot. Or part of a landscape setting on rocks but thats not the image im trying to convey.

As photos ca be deceptive, i'll just add the top of the main trunk stands at 22cm so its reasonably small

 

[Jeremy]

2 year update shows .. no progress! This species develops fast but I don't seem to be going in a clear direction. Ive just cut back pretty hard so Ive lost most of last years ramification. Really just wanted to get rid of the mess and establish a clear structure. I've swayed away from the original direction and am mostly viewing the tree from the front in the first photo below. Still haven't been able to get a decent shoot to build an apex on the main trunk yet. The trunks have a lot of interest in their movement but I can't seem to tie them all together. Does anybody see something I don't?

 

[Leo in N E Illinois]

the trunks are picking up character. I'd love to have it in front of me to try and figure out what to do with it. I'm starting to like it a lot. The 2014 pictures were a ''hot mess'', its much better now.

 

[Jeremy]

Still just tinkering along with this tree. Still no suitable shoots to develop an apex on the middle trunk. Time to up my game and think about grafting. The bark finally exfoliated this year which was a nice surprise, gives me motivation to keep trying.

 

[MichaelS]

 

[Jeremy]

Seems easy enough, Michael! I saved the photo as a reference and made minor adjustments, buds are just beginning to open now so we will see what comes of it this season.

 

[Jeremy]

Not a lot of progress this year but I did manage to shorten the apex on the left trunk as per Michael's virt. Apex on the middle trunk needs to extend over to the left as it grows taller and overall the branch work could do with a more thorough tidy up. Still, I don't mind looking at it while leafless

 

[cbroad]

Damn, looking really good!

I don't have much to say, but I like where your heading with it, I'll be watching. Post more updates in the future!

 

[Jeremy]

Another year done. The colander is getting brittle and its about due for a repot, sometime next month. Starting to come together, still sorting out branch work and then i can start working on fine ramification.