destroyed that crape myrtle
True:
This is what I call "crepe murder." I didn't invent the term.
Crepe murder is bad for several reasons.
1. It turns beautiful trees into ugly stumps.
2. It prevents the formation of pretty, mottled bark on maturing trunks.
3. A forest of skinny, whip-like shoots sprouts from the end of each ugly stump. These whips are too weak to hold up the flowers, so the branches often bend to the ground, like a drunk who's about to lose his lunch.
Crepe's should be pruned in late winter, not late fall.
Learn how to spell "Retired".