Crape Myrtle trees are very beautiful when they are blooming! I love the bright, deep pink of the two in our front flower bed. The light pink of the bigger tree is nice too, although Jason doesn't like the color very much. It is a really light pink, so they almost look white. Plus, it's gotten so big that it's difficult to trim. If Crape Myrtle's are not trimmed they get kind of shaggy, and don't produce thick blooms.
As gorgeous as the Crape Myrtles looked in our front yard recently, they really are a bit of a nuisance to have. They are constantly trying to sprout more trees. I found some shoots popping up in the yard the other day, and they were at least 4-5 feet away from the main tree. They also have shoots that will come up right at the base of the tree, and eventually all of these will grow into big trees if they are not trimmed regularly. I have heard Crape Myrtles are nearly impossible to get rid of too. We haven't tried getting rid of our three, but we surely have been careful to keep the constantly growing shoots and sprouts trimmed, so they don't get to be mature and over run the place!I am also a little annoyed with the Crape Myrtles, 
because their root systems (besides being fertile as mentioned above) infiltrate the soil--using almost every spare piece of dirt. So, when I want to plant some ground cover or some cute little flowers in the front flower beds, the roots usually choke out whatever I plant. They also make it difficult to dig in the soil to even plant anything additional. Plus, we have these pretty ferns in the front flower bed that have the weirdest roots. The roots look like they have little balls on them. Anytime I dig in that flower bed, I usually unearth a few of these roots--hasn't harmed the plant either (whew!). So, when I dug one up one time, I poked at the ball on the roots and it had liquid in it. So, this must be the way it keeps itself from getting too dry--conservationist! Cool! --Kind of like a camel conserving extra water in its hump(s).
because their root systems (besides being fertile as mentioned above) infiltrate the soil--using almost every spare piece of dirt. So, when I want to plant some ground cover or some cute little flowers in the front flower beds, the roots usually choke out whatever I plant. They also make it difficult to dig in the soil to even plant anything additional. Plus, we have these pretty ferns in the front flower bed that have the weirdest roots. The roots look like they have little balls on them. Anytime I dig in that flower bed, I usually unearth a few of these roots--hasn't harmed the plant either (whew!). So, when I dug one up one time, I poked at the ball on the roots and it had liquid in it. So, this must be the way it keeps itself from getting too dry--conservationist! Cool! --Kind of like a camel conserving extra water in its hump(s). Back to the difficulty of digging in the front flowerbeds.... Well, you guessed it, the roots with balls are taking up whatever spare piece of dirt the Crape Myrtles are not using...so that leaves nothing for other flowers. I guess I'll just have to enjoy the GREEN of ferns, non-blooming Crape Myrtles, Sago Palm, and two different varieties of GREEN bush. Although deep down, I really-really want some color in that flower bed.
Maybe I can get something to grow in the Spring...or extend the flower bed a little. . .We'll see.
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