Crape Myrtle with weak branches bending too much when it rains - Ask Extension
Our crape myrtle seems to have such weak branches that the recent rain has caused them to bend way too far. We trimmed a bunch of the branches to he...
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Crape Myrtle with weak branches bending too much when it rains #880080
Asked August 03, 2024, 10:17 PM EDT
Our crape myrtle seems to have such weak branches that the recent rain has caused them to bend way too far. We trimmed a bunch of the branches to help reduce the weight of the flowers. But I am wondering why ours is the only one I've seen with this problem. The variety we have is Lagerstroemia Indica 'Christiana' which we purchased in 2005. It's supposed to be a medium size shrub but as you can see by the photos it is much larger.
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
We aren't familiar with that specific cultivar (there are hundreds on the market these days), though would doubt that a propensity for drooping flowers and branch tips is greatly affected by cultivar. We see this phenomenon fairly regularly, both among nursery potted plants and in-ground established trees. It is exacerbated by prior heavy pruning that tops trees every year, but from what we can see, your tree has not been pruned that way, which is good. If the flower clusters tend to be large, the abundant petals will hold onto more water during/after rain, which can temporarily bend the branch ends a bit. Varieties of hydrangea have the same problem, and unfortunately there isn't too much that can be done to prevent it.
A quick check online shows that 'Christiana' is described as maturing in the range of 5-12 feet high. Plants never really stop growing, though they can slow down once mature, so at nearly two decades old, it's not unusual for a plant in that height category to have grown to the size of the tree pictured.
Is the tree receiving full sun? (In summer, this would be 6 to 8 or more hours of direct light.) If not in full sun, if the house is shading it for part of the day, that might be contributing to the overall lean, which is worsened when the flower heads are weighed-down by rain or ripening seeds. You can dead-head spent flower heads to spare the branches the weight of ripening seed pods, but if not reachable, then it's fine to skip it. Selectively pruning branches back to remove the oldest trunks, so a few of the suckers can replace them, can be one way to rejuvenate plants whose growth habit has become unappealing, though that can be a multi-year process in order to avoid stressing the plant too much.
Miri
A quick check online shows that 'Christiana' is described as maturing in the range of 5-12 feet high. Plants never really stop growing, though they can slow down once mature, so at nearly two decades old, it's not unusual for a plant in that height category to have grown to the size of the tree pictured.
Is the tree receiving full sun? (In summer, this would be 6 to 8 or more hours of direct light.) If not in full sun, if the house is shading it for part of the day, that might be contributing to the overall lean, which is worsened when the flower heads are weighed-down by rain or ripening seeds. You can dead-head spent flower heads to spare the branches the weight of ripening seed pods, but if not reachable, then it's fine to skip it. Selectively pruning branches back to remove the oldest trunks, so a few of the suckers can replace them, can be one way to rejuvenate plants whose growth habit has become unappealing, though that can be a multi-year process in order to avoid stressing the plant too much.
Miri
