Late-leafing crepe myrtle - Ask Extension
I have a Natchez crepe myrtle (green leaves, WHITE blossoms) that is a few years old. My concern is that it has not leafed out yet.
IMPORTANT NOTE...
Knowledgebase
Late-leafing crepe myrtle #930134
Asked April 30, 2026, 10:29 AM EDT
I have a Natchez crepe myrtle (green leaves, WHITE blossoms) that is a few years old. My concern is that it has not leafed out yet.
IMPORTANT NOTE: Last fall with a generous rootball/dirt and a large well watered new hole I transplanted (same day) it to a space it has more sunshine and space to grow.
In general crepe myrtles always scare me each year, because they are the LAST to leaf out. I keep thinking it's surely dead. Last year *first* white blossoms were at the end of June.
But I did a 'scratch test' with my fingernail, (only 1/8") on a few different branches ... AND... all the branches were green inside. Implying to me: life.
It's now almost May but it still has not leafed out yet. Just be patient? Or is it gone?
Could the delay just be a shock response to being moved in late fall last year?
Thanks for any input.
Montgomery County Maryland
Expert Response
Readjustment from transplanting may be one reason for a late leaf-out, though as you pointed out, leafing-out late in spring is normal for crapemyrtles. (They also naturally flower only in summer, so the fact that first blooms didn't appear until June is quite typical...in fact, June is a bit early for crapemyrtle flowering, as most varieties primarily bloom in July and August.)
Complicating things is the overnight freeze we experienced last week, which killed the new growth on many crapemyrtles that were already leafing-out. In those cases, the plants may take a few weeks to recuperate and develop replacement growth. The ongoing drought is not helping, and it may improve the chances for recovery to monitor the plant for watering needs using guidance in the linked page. A scratch test can sometimes show green cambium (the live tissues just under bark) before a plant dies back, but this does sound like a reassuring indicator for now.
All you can do for now is give the plant more time and make sure its roots don't get too dry. If the branches leaf-out but a few bare branch tips remain later into May, you can trim off any dieback at that point. Once it has acclimated more after the move, 'Natchez' is a very fast-growing and large-maturing crapemyrtle variety, and it should progress fairly quickly, so make sure its current location can accommodate at least a 25-foot tall canopy without having to trim back the branch tops to make the tree fit the space. As you noted, they need full sun to thrive, which is an exposure to a minimum of 6-8 hours of direct summer sun (the amount of sun it would get once any nearby trees have leafed-out).
Miri
Complicating things is the overnight freeze we experienced last week, which killed the new growth on many crapemyrtles that were already leafing-out. In those cases, the plants may take a few weeks to recuperate and develop replacement growth. The ongoing drought is not helping, and it may improve the chances for recovery to monitor the plant for watering needs using guidance in the linked page. A scratch test can sometimes show green cambium (the live tissues just under bark) before a plant dies back, but this does sound like a reassuring indicator for now.
All you can do for now is give the plant more time and make sure its roots don't get too dry. If the branches leaf-out but a few bare branch tips remain later into May, you can trim off any dieback at that point. Once it has acclimated more after the move, 'Natchez' is a very fast-growing and large-maturing crapemyrtle variety, and it should progress fairly quickly, so make sure its current location can accommodate at least a 25-foot tall canopy without having to trim back the branch tops to make the tree fit the space. As you noted, they need full sun to thrive, which is an exposure to a minimum of 6-8 hours of direct summer sun (the amount of sun it would get once any nearby trees have leafed-out).
Miri
