Pruning for flowering shrubs and trees

Ed Duke and Sam Hand Contributors As a general rule, pruning is best done on small growth, except for the purpose of plant restoration. Mutilating a tree, such as crepe myrtle, by destructive removal of large limbs will produce a lot of new growth. Crepe myrtles flower on new wood, so yes you will get a lot of flowering but it is flowering which would have naturally occurred anyway on the tree's seasonal spring growth. However, since the tree is deciduous, all you will have to look at next