Question
Hi,
After a mild winter and 2 weeks of temps in the 70's and 80's my Crepe Myrtles had just started to leaf out. We then were hit with a hard freeze where temps got into the 20's for 4 nights. The leaves are now gone and they look winter dormant again.  Will they survive a freeze like this??  Is there any way to tell if they are still alive?
Thank You

Answer
Yes they should survive the freeze. The way to check if the tree is still alive is to start at the end of a branch and scrape a little bit of bark off the branch if the color under the bark is green then the branch is still alive at this point on the branch. If the color is brown then the branch is dead at this point on the branch--continue down the branch until you find green. If that branch is dead you can check other branches.
The tree will leaf out if the color is green. Keep the tree watered if it does not rain for a week. After the tree gets into full leaf you can prune the dead branches (if there is any).
Crepe Myrtle is hard to kill so I would them to survive and leaf out shortly.