I think there is not enough soil between the roots, the upper part was just covered by mulch. I want to get some miracle grow soil and add to the upper part of the roots.

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the shrub/tree put its roots where it wants them.. dont go thinking you know better than the tree and bury them ... its just about the worst thing you could do ..

also.. the tree shows no sign of being deficient in nutrients in any manner ... it is a tree/shrub.. it is not a child.. it does not need to be fed ...

why are you using PI killer to kill a vine that isnt PI??? .. is it labeled for said use ... if so.. sounds like you are going to do it the right way ... [you ought to ID the stuff... im thinking it looks like vinca .... but i dont know if that a FL thing.. but if it were.. i would let it cover the ugly mulch.. it isnt hurting the plant at all ...give us better pix of it.. and we can ID it...]

just dont love this thing to death... it appears to have been very happy doing its own thing.. so dont force it to do your thing ...

clenaing it all up is good...

i detest all colored mulch.. so red.. brown.. it would all go in my world.. warped as it may be.. the only colors in nature.. are the colors she provides.. and that is mulch that turns gray.. for me.. whatever you prefer is fine.. just dont stain the plant ...

imo .... its glorious in its current state.. i would not try to force my own aesthetic on it.. and try to make it a single trunk ... but .. .. your choice.. on your plant ...

ken

Ken,

Thank you for your response. Actually I would like to love it to death, I could tell husband I did all I could and it died anyway :) The pictures don't show how ugly this tree is in reality. Inside it is very rare, not dense at all like I see them here and it has these ugly gray things hanging down, I don't even know what they are. They are easily taken off by hand but I am not tall enough to clean them. I also found out information about the green stuff on bark. From what I found it is probably lichens, which live on unhealthy declining trees.

Anyway, this type of crape myrtle with pink blooms seems to be ubiquitous, in my subdivision and all over the area (which was also one of the reasons why I wanted to replace it with a nice palm tree, that's why I moved to Florida after all :) - to live among palm trees), but from all those trees I see around, mine is the ugliest, most neglected and unattractive.

I am attaching the picture of the vine. I was sure that it was poison ivy so I got Ortho killer for it, for now I have nothing else to kill weeds. The thick black roots around the trees are this vine and they seem to be kilometres long. They are almost non existent on the ground but appear near other plants only to climb on them. I was pretty sure it was poison ivy until one guy said it isn't. Now I don't know for sure but I thought if he works in landscaping he probably knows better.

Thank you,

Aleksandra

I’m jealous of all those crape myrtles in the warmer states. Maybe with a good cleanup it could look better for you, if over-loving it doesn’t get the results you want.

The ivy? Ewe! Compare to Virginia Creeper. If that’s what it is hopefully you’ll find the needed info to eradicate it.

Kay

Yes. The ’ivy’ is actually Virginia Creeper.

Thank you, never heard of it before.

Back in Indiana I was also jealous of crape myrtles :) In nurseries they have these gorgeous 'black diamond' crape myrtles, I even found some with a single trunk. Breathtaking beauty, one of those would look so good in place of the old one...

I think I'll get one of them, grow in a planter and maybe next year I'll convince husband...

Thank you everyone for your time!

“…also found out information about the green stuff on bark. From what I found it is probably lichens, which live on unhealthy declining trees...”

Where did you read that? And as for the grey things hanging down, is it Spanish Moss?

tj

I googled 'green stuff on crape myrtle bark' and there it was.

I checked Spanish Moss, and yes, that's probably it.

I'm at a point where everything the previous owners left us to deal with, both inside and outside, I just want to get rid of it all. We purchased the house sight unseen and what we found was the exact opposite of what we thought we would find (house market is C-R-A-Z-Y, we made seven offers all above asking and only this one was accepted. We quickly understood why...)

Anyway I decided I'll try working on husband rather than the tree :)

Thanks again!

I think the advice to take a deep breath is spot on. It sounds as if you're a fairly inexperienced gardener since you've not come across lichen or Virginia creeper before. I would remove the VC and then relax a bit. You have a potentially beautiful CM and several Loropetalums, which most people consider highly desirable shrubs with beautiful flowers andattractive foliage. Take some time to learn more about your plants before you take action you might regret in due course. CMs are often grown multi stemmed and, personally, I find them more attractive that way.

Btw, in case you didn't get tsugajunkie‘s comment, lichen is not a disease and does not mean the tree is on its way out.

That's true, I am totally new to Floridian landscaping but learning every day. And no, I am not expecting Spanish Moss to disappear from Florida landscape just because I don't like it :)

You are both right about taking a deep breath. That's what I'll do :)

I'll keep cleaning whatever I find, you wouldn't believe it, plastic bags, nails, wires, pipes... I just hired a company to cut the grass and they have trimming hedges included in the price. Wow! That was unthinkable in Indiana and here it is so much cheaper too.

That's what I found about lichen:

Although they appear on declining crepe myrtles, the organisms themselves aren't responsible for the plants' lack of vigor. Ailing trees and shrubs typically have thinned canopies and fewer leaves, which allows more sunlight to reach the bark. The lichens simply take advantage of those sunny spots.

And this on another website:

Typically, they occur in abundance on plants that are declining in health or vigor. They are harmless to the plant and are in no way responsible for the poor health of the plant. Less vigorous plants tend to be more open with less foliage, which increases sunlight penetration and subsequent lichen growth.

I knew they don't harm the tree, it just confirmed that the tree is not in the best of shape.

Thank you everyone!