If you want it to go dormant, get it cold again. I live in Texas myself so I
understand about the releafing out.

You will have to water it more while it is leafed out, but just not too much
nor too little. Whether the tree is dormant or not, if it dries out too much
it will die, so don't use the cutting back on the water to try to make it go
dormant -- use the lower temperatures.

You could probably bury the pots in a south facing bed against the house,
too, but I've never lived further north than Dallas so...I'm not sure I'd
take my word for that. In Austin and Houston, I leave my pots out where they
do freeze a few days or weeks a year so I know a light freeze doesn't kill
even potted roots.

hth,
John


"Wishy13764" wrote in message
...
It is not unusual however, for the subtropics to experience
prolonged warm spells in winter, followed by more cool weather. During
those
periods, sometimes crape myrtles will leaf out, and then lose their leaves
again if another frost strikes. Generally this didn't kill my crape
myrtles,
but they were in the ground. I guess I would advise keeping th plant which
is leafing out "barely alive" -meaning not watering until the soil is
quite
dry on top, keeping it in the very coolest part of the room, as long as
there is sufficient light, etc. In February and March, as the light gets
stronger, you could increase watering, maybe fertilize lightly - and
obviously as the days get warm enough, perhaps as early as mid-April,
start
keeping it outside in a very sheltered location.

Well, no need to be concerned about frost while they are indoors. I
watered
when I spotted the leaves, and at that time the soil was dry. Maybe I
should
move it down to the basement with the others, who so far, at 59 degrees
have
not spouted new leaves?