Why aren’t my Crape Myrtles blooming?

Crape Myrtle season is here!

Everyones crape myrtles seem to be blooming, but what if yours aren't? Why wouldn't they be blooming? What can I do about it? Was it something I did?

First of all, there are quite a few reasons as to why a crape myrtle may not be blooming, or blooming very little. If your crape myrtle is diseased, bug infested, sick, dying etc...it probably won't be producing many blooms. But thats not what I'm talking about here.

I'm talking about when your crape myrtle looks to be perfectly healthy, but it simply doesn't have any blooms, or it is not blooming as it has in previous years. All of your neighbors crape myrtles are full of beautiful blooms, but not yours!

Most often this means one of three things is happening:

1. You're not being patient.
Different crape myrtle varieties are different sizes, have different color blooms, and they also bloom at different times.
Your White Natchez or Catawba might bloom this week, but that doesn't mean your Tuscarora or Dynamite should or will do the same. Different varieties can bloom days, weeks, and even months apart.
So be patient, your crape myrtle may not be ready to bloom just yet!

2. Too much shade.
Many crape myrtles can live and thrive in the shade...but they're not going to bloom. In order to bloom properly, crape myrtles need at least 6 or 7+ hours of direct sunlight.
If you have other trees in your landscape (even other crape myrtles), you may need to trim them on occasion to ensure all your crapes are getting the sunlight they need to bloom.  

3. Pruning at the wrong time.
Pruning your crape myrtles promotes new growth which in turn promotes more blooms. Pruning at the wrong time, however, will do the opposite.
Crape myrtles have to be trimmed while in dormancy during the winter months. Many people make the mistake of pruning their crapes too late in the winter or early spring when they have already begun to come out of dormancy. This is will either significantly delay your crape myrtles blooms, or eliminate them altogether. Fortunately this can be corrected, but you will have to wait until the next season (and start pruning them at the right time).

Don't give up on them just yet!