Great advice by Yardvaark, and would work fine on your Crape Myrtle. It’s a majestic, stunning one, I wouldn’t cut it down. But I understand, I don’t live there, you do. It’s just so gorgeous. I wish it was in my yard. :)

Thanks for all of the advice. I found another photo taken a few years ago when I was frustrated by the size of the tree. The arborist severely cut it back, aka "crape murder." It was ugly when he did it, but once the leaves were on the tree, it looked good & the scale looked good. What do you think about this vs. thinning it out & limbing up to the canopy? I noticed that as this crape grew larger, it has very few blooms. The first 4 photos are taken in peak bloom season. I do have a large, gorgeous crape myrtle on the right side of the driveway, just out of this photo that is loaded with blooms. You can see a bit of it in the first photo at the top.

Please note that the lower limbs of the oak tree on the left have been removed.

Thank you very much.

In evaluating crape myrtles, I have a personal dislike for the form that most of them end up being. They start as skinny 4-prong multi-trunk trees growing almost vertically. (They are staked this way by the commercial grower.) They are then beheaded somewhere around waist or chest height, purely for the convenience of the one maintaining, as no ladder is required. If later allowed to grow out some more, they end up looking like this:

I think a much better shape is this:

Sizewise, where the canopy clears a human head by a couple of feet.

The good news is that it is possible to convert the the former into latter, but it requires a complete rejuvenation, i.e., cutting to the ground and regrowing, this time paying attention to the form, which is not in the least difficult. It only takes a year or two to establish the new trunk arrangement, and another 3 or 4 years for the canopy to become full. But in the in end it's totally worth it for having a much better looking tree from then on.

If you do not like the yearly pruning then I suggest removing it. There was a time when I would never remove a healthy plant. I got over it.

You could plant a new Crape in the lawn to the right of the drive. That would give you more room for the multi-trunk style that Yardvaark prefers.

I thought of your house while looking through Veranda magazine today. Took a screenshot of a garden in Houston with mature crapes pruned in an interesting, sculptural way — for the same reason 97% of people have CM issues: too big of a cultivar planted in too small of a space for their own liking.

I’m usually pretty picky about them, somewhat of a “Crape Purist” (I made that up just now) and agree with Yardvaark about shapes, but I actually like this. And think it’d work well on your situation. Obviously, in the Houston garden, the effect is more striking due to multiple plantings, but I still think it’s worth considering.

Link to article with larger, clearer pictures:

https://www.veranda.com/outdoor-garden/a30917944/houston-garden-herbert-pickworth/

Thank you, everyone for the great advice. I do have a large & beautiful white crape myrtle to the right of the driveway. It is growing in the shape that Yardvark recommended in the 2nd photo.