I can tell you about that.
As a trainee Master Gardener in NC, our group was lectured about this crime early on in our course, that and Volcano Mulching (around trees).
People commit Crepe Murder because they see others doing it, which is very sad because Crepe Myrtles look lovely when left alone. There really is no excuse these days, because Crepe Myrtles now come in dwarf varieties, so it is silly to plant what becomes a 25' tree in the wrong spot and to keep hacking at it because it becomes too tall.
What I later learned on a visit to a beautiful old garden in Roanoke, NC was that, in the old days, when people needed kindling to start their fires, they would go and harvest some of the skinny sticks from the Crepe Myrtle trees, and that is how this crime began!
Linda
|