One of the problems with the extreme pruning of crape myrtles has to do with planting a large-growing tree in a space more fitted for a small-growing tree. It's the wrong plant in the wrong place ...

As gardeners make New Year’s resolutions for their landscapes in 2018, I want to encourage all of them to resolve to correctly prune crape myrtles from this day forward.

Crape myrtle varieties that tend to be more susceptible to aphids and hence attract beneficial insects include Apalachee, Comanche, Biloxi, Tuscarora, Tonto, Cherry Dazzle, Raspberry Dazzle and ...