do a search for black sooty mold on crape myrtles by gardenmagik on youtube. She explains common crape problems and this is one of them.

i would love to have some crepe mytles...but when I planted them...nothing...never got nothing. And now I am thinking of going outside and learning to garden here in Harvey, la. Any ideas where I could get crepe mytles and what to do to them to get the going. Anyone ever have a heater or maybe outside fire place to work around and stay warm. Thanks. I am retired now so I am bored.

I am no expert but I had to move a Crape Myrtle across my yard. Well it died in a few years but where I dug up the bush I ended up with 20+ shoots that transplanted just fine and ended up with more than I could use in the end. So start asking around your area. Someone just might have a few of those annoying shoots that they would like removed. Make sure you get some of the root and cover the root end left to prevent another shoot from sprouting up where you removed your start. Just make sure you do not plant near your water lines and they do love to reach for water lines and can be a problem later. PS I do not have any now and no place to grow them anymore. They can become very tall if allowed to do so. I have seen them grow up in the middle of another tree and reach over 40 feet high. But with care you can keep them down to the size that works best for you, just do not prune them like some of the fools do around my area. They call it Crape Murder.