Pest battle with Crepe Myrtle — and how I won

I had a serious problem with honey fungus affecting roots especially on stressed trees on my Crepe Myrtle earlier this year. Caught it late and had to work hard to bring the plant back. The experience was frustrating but educational.

Now that it's healthy again I can fully appreciate significant impact on the microclimate and character of a garden, which is remarkable. I've repositioned it in a small garden with a compact or columnar variety chosen for scale and improved my attention to formative pruning in the first five years to build a clear leader. autumn colour and fruit or berry display was the proof that the plant had fully recovered — genuinely beautiful. Moral of the story: inspect regularly and catch problems early.