How To Trim Wax Myrtles
Department of agriculture hardiness zones 7 to 11.
How to trim wax myrtles. The good news is most crape myrtles can be pruned with hand held shears or long handles loppers. Wax myrtle is low maintenance and it can grow in flooding drought and salt conditions. Use hand pruners to make a diagonal cut about 1 4 inch above a node for small. Historically leaves of the wax myrtle tree were used for fragrance and flammability when making candles.
Use pruning shears to cut off unwanted wood. Achieving heights of 15 to 25 feet the plant grows fast in a vaselike or rounded shape. Cut back branches in the wax myrtle s canopy to just above a branch junction or bud to reduce overall shrub size. When removing a stray branch make your cut at a point along the branch even with main form of the plant.
Michael dirr says in his book trees and shrubs that the tree withstands the endless pruning required to keep it in check wax myrtle will need pruning to keep it specimen beautiful. Selective pruning of wax myrtle use a sharp pair of bypass hand pruners to selectively remove stray or damaged branches. This fragrance still used today has earned the shrub a common name of southern bayberry. Other common names common myrtle myrtle family myrtaceae genus myrtus are evergreen shrubs or small trees with aromatic leathery leaves and solitary bowl shaped white flowers followed by fleshy often edible berries.
Southern wax myrtle or myrica cerifera is a tree that grows in u s. If yours are way out of control then a chainsaw might be necessary in the most extreme cases. Waxmyrtle is a very forgiving tree when pruned.