Crape Myrtles. . .or should I call them CRAP Myrtles???

[doctorragamuffin]

[align=left]As ya'll may*know, we were absolutely devastated by a hard freeze down here in Tennessee this April*-- this after an early warm - up in late March.* We had major die - back of a lot of trees, and I'm sure stunted growth for this season.* I've got this small crape myrtle -- about 2 inches in diameter at the base, and it had already started to leaf out when the freeze hit.* The freeze killed back every bit of green growth the thing had.[/align]
[align=left]**** Now all I've got at this point is 1) "sucker" growth from the base, and 2) ONE shoot emanating from the trunk, about 3 inches in length now, at a division point of two (seemingly dead) branches.* If you scratch the bark of any of the peripheral branches, there's no green underneath -- they appear to be dead and gone.* Weird.[/align]
[align=left]** I'm assuming it's not dead, but I'm kinda dumb as to how these things work.* It had leafed out before the freeze, all the way up and down the existing branches, but now these branches seem dead.[/align]
[align=left]* Any comments or advice?* What do I do?* [/align]
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[align=left]TIA.[/align]
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[align=left]Doctor Ragamuffin[/align]

[Newt]

So many of us were effected by the weird spring weather.* It was so bad that those of us that feed hummers put out extra food and purple martins were suffering because there weren't enough bugs for them to feed on.* Anyway, wait to see what leafs out, prune off dead wood and go from there.* If you are growing your crape as a bush it should be fine.* If you want to grow it as a tree and you can't get the shape right, you may need to replace it.* :(*

Newt

[Newt]

deleted duplicate post

[doctorragamuffin]

Yeah, that's really the question I have among others -- these things seem especially prone to vegetative growth from the base -- what I presume to be "suckers."* THESE won't "grow" into the characteristic "trunks" of a crape myrtle, will they?* The other, large ones I have, they have 5 or 6 "trunks" as a lot of crapes do.

I will say this -- I scratch the bark on some of the*"trunk" *branches further up, they're still soft and pale green underneath. . .

Is that a good sign?* Or is that just wishful thinking?* Still just have the one shoot peripherally right now, right at the base of a dividing branch.

*

Ragamuffin

[Newt]

If you see green under the bark then the tree/shrub is still alive.* Whether or not it will recover is another matter.* It's difficult to say, especially without pics.* You are probably seeing sucker growth in it's bid to survive. Many will suffer top growth being killed off in a severe winter or harsh spring, only to resprout.* Here's some interesting info on crapes.
http://dallas.tamu.edu/woody/cmyrtle/landscape.html
http://www.ag.auburn.edu/hort/landsc...apemyrtle2.htm
http://www.plantdelights.com/Tony/crape.html

Newt