Doing What Comes Naturally!

  Back a few weeks ago, I trimmed some of the crape myrtle bushes in the front yard.  I am not sure if it is the "proper" time to cut them or not but I am following Pop's lead.  He took a chainsaw to his huge bushes that lined the front yard near the paved road.  It was usually after Thanksgiving that he literally gave the bushes a "buzz cut".  They were all neatly cut just about head height to Pop.   Even doing this, the bushes would bloom profusely the next summer.  I cut mine because they were ungainly and towering into the live oak tree.  After cutting the tall, spindly shoots, the bushes looked a lot better.

  Today as I was out walking the old dog (in the rain), I noticed that the bark was peeling on the crape myrtle trunks.  Large sheets of the bark were trying desperately to hold onto the tree trunks but the pelting rains were relentless and the bark was slipping closer and closer to the ground.  Now, had I not known better, I would have been alarmed at the sight of the peeling bark but I DID know better, so I was not worried.  Crape myrtle trees all have a tendency to lose their bark once they become a mature tree.  This is usually several years after planting.   The bark sloughs off and reveals the gorgeous wood beneath.  The now smooth trunk is revealed in all its glory.  The wood can be as light as a creamy beige to a deep, glossy red (and just about every color in between).  The wood can also be one color or be a mottled beauty.

  So...since I grew up watching Pop take care of so many plants on the farm, I knew that this peeling was a natural event and meant my crape myrtles were now mature and healthy.  There was no need to go into a panic, buy a bunch of needless sprays and douse the poor trees with chemicals.  They were doing what comes naturally,