On Mon, 30 Aug 2004 16:07:11 GMT,
(Babberney) wrote:

On Sat, 28 Aug 2004 22:29:43 GMT, Frogleg wrote:

Around here, we use the term "Crape Murder" for pollarding. That is,
pruning back everything to a few main stubs,

Not exactly. True pollarding is sustainable and, to some people,
attractive. Originally. it was a practice designed to produce an
annual supply of easy-to-reach firewood, I believe.

The common practice applied to crapes is topping, and it's never a
good idea from the standpoint of the tree (any tree). It can be a
good way to turn a tree into a bush, if you're so inclined, but only
if the tree is realatively small and young. Topping a mature tree
will often kill it.

I see that both topping
http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...005328200.html

and pollarding
http://www.passionfortrees.co.uk/html/pollard.html

are referred to as "Crape murder." I have seen many examples of the
pollarding technique, and it's just as ugly for Crape Myrtles as it is
for the beech trees used in the example above.

Since the tree is deciduous, you have to look at the bare skeleton 4-5
months of the year. I can't imagine how *anyone* would find a stub
with whiskers attractive, while the bare unmutilated tree is quite
graceful.