I hope so, too - Ann. One of my Crape Myrtles is late to leaf out and so I am not worried about it. But another looks pretty bad right now.

All of ours are going to make it, I lost a couple that I started from seed last year, that were still in pots.
Norm

I wonder if someone can answer my question,last year i put in four large crepe myrtles and all the leaves were killed by the cold, as of today they show no sighn of life except new leaves on the ground. will they come back or are they dead.Thanks for any help.

If they've got new leaves, they're alive, but the stems may not be.
Have you been watering them? This winter/spring/summer has been very dry for parts of Tennessee. If you're in the dry part, your crepes may need a little extra water to make as much growth as they can from 'energy' stored in the roots from last year.
Wait a couple of weeks and if no growth emerges on the stems, and all the new growth is still from the ground, continue to protect the new growth until it hardens. (One reason for leaving the woody dead bits is (around our house), there is less chance for an accidental mowing over if vertical wood is involved.)

Great information as I too am waiting for signs of life..everything else is making new leaves but the myrtles. They are only 2 years old....
Athens area

My crepe myrtles seem to be doing fine. 3 of them have many leaves all over and show plenty signs of growth, one doesn't look so hot, although it does have leaves, it also has a lot of dead looking leaves on it. They're also HUGE! I'm thinking of trimming them back but I'm not exactly sure how to go about it. Should they be trimmed before they bloom or after, and should I trim whole limbs or just parts of them? Can someone help me with this?

Oh and brandiwine, I'm also in the Athens area...what part are you in?