Gaining control of rose bush and crepe myrtles

Yeah, I had a feeling.
A bit different to UK growing.

 

Crepe myrtle survives ok here in the UK but flowering is not really as good as it probably is over there.
I have a couple of plants and find they take pruning well.
If you had some old stems, presumably killed to the ground by frost, then followed by strong shoots the following year, I'd be inclined to do some careful pruning this winter to form them back to shape.
If they are tending to flop over, a cut back of a third would not harm them, and give the new stems time to harden up, so that next summer they will hopefully be more rigid.

 

So for the crepe Myrtles if I cut out the dead wood, and cut about 1/3 off the new stems will they still look alright and not have that "stumpy" look to the stems?


I didn't realize this was a UK forum..I just found it using tapatalk. ..anyway. .Hello from from across the big pond!

 

Well a pic of the myrtles would help, I'm just wondering, if the new growth is very floppy you might be better tying it to the old stems for a year or so until it all firms up.
Then cut out the dead stems in a year or so.

The forum is mostly UK based but we have some US members and others from all parts of the world, so no problem.
Think you might be the first from Tennessee though

 

Here is the only pic i can find, at the moment, from this spring..All the green is new weak growth

 

Ah, I see, I assume they put a fair bit more growth on during the summer and probably flowered in summer?

The ones further down appear less affected than the ones nearer the camera.

I think I'd just do the one third cut back of new growth, and cut out any of the dead stuff.
They flower on new growth as you probably know, so no harm in cutting back a bit during winter.

 

Yes, they did grow quite a bit, but did not bloom.

The one further down I "experimented" with and cut down almost to the ground and it came back like a bush

 

TJ it would be helpful if you could put your area in your avatar box please as it helps members when dealing with different plants in different weather conditions etc.

 

Does it show up now? I'm using tapatalk so it's hard for me to see the Web view

 

OK, so probably cutting right back to the ground is not good, but if they got killed off right down to the roots by frost they are likely to need a year or two to recover fully and get back into flowering mode.
Dont do any cutting back once growth starts, that will stop flowering.

 

its on there now.

 

Here are 3 pics of the 3 species in the mess...I assume they are rose, some type of hedge junk, and honeysuckle





I guess best thing to do is just cut the honeysuckle and hedge out and see whats left?

 

I'm sorry I lost track of you there for a few days.
Well I'd be inclined to get rid of what you dont want, so if you just want the rose try to dig out the other stuff.
If not possible as the roots are close together then cut it all back and see what comes up next spring.
You could treat the growth of the plants you dont want with a weedkiller during the summer, so as growth commences try to separate it out to some extent.