Hello All I'm new to this site so Thank You in advance for your responses. I planted a crapre myrtle last September, while it looked like it was ready to bloom, it never did. I was wondering when I should see some signs of life this spring in New York.
Hi! I live in Texas, zone 8, near to zone 9. My crepe myrtle just this past week got new leaves. They are very tiny yet. I imagine in New York it will be at least another month before you get any new growth. They are about the last to leaf out here. dooley
Crepe Myrtles require hot temperatures to bud and bloom so you are probably looking at late April, maybe even into May or later. Mine have just started leafing out but then we have been having temperatures in the 80's for a couple of weeks already. And they don't start blooming here until Jun/July if the weather is hot enough for them. When you bought yours it was probably getting ready to bloom because the temperature was just getting warm enough for it but then the weather started cooling down and it wasn't warm enough for the buds to bloom. Don't forget they need full sun, all day preferrably but will handle some shade down here because it is still hot in the shade June through Sept. And depending on how much of the freeze temps and snow you got this past winter, it might not have survived at all.
Crepe Myrtle's are only hardy in zones 7 and up. You live in New York? I'm almost certain that it wouldn't have survived the winter outdoors.
My zone is borderline 7b and 8a, depending on which drawing of the zone map you look at and I can guarantee that your zone 7 is nothing like my zone 7 You have heat in the summer but summer doesn't last as long as it does down here and that's what the Crepe Myrtle needs to bloom well and your winters are much more severe than anything we have ever had. If yours comes back this spring, your probably should transplant it to a pot that you can take inside next winter.
I spoke with the designer at the nursery over the weekend, he said that crape myrtles will have any growth until late May up here. Everything else we put in is coming back nicely so I have no reason to doubt him.
Bobby, ! Glad your crepe myrtle made it, and is thriving. Posting a picture of it in bloom wouldn't be a bad idea . . . .
Bobbyr857, I am glad your crepe myrtle is alive and well. I am originally from eastern PA, near Philly which is zone 6. I have no idea how Long Island is zone 7? I am in southern MO now which is also zone 6. I have two crepe myrtles here, one is a baby and leafed out early. My large crepe myrtle is not yet leafed out, but just beginning to show buds. They are two different cultivars. My big one has had to be babied in severe cold weather here. I sometimes have to wrap it in bubble wrap around the base of the trunks, and stuff it with hay to keep it from freezing in near zero and below zero weather. Also, I have never even seen crepe myrtle so far north.
