I am in a watching mode over here. Same thing happened to my new one planted last year. The wood underneath is still green so I am hopeful but the next month should tell me more. Maybe someone has a better answer for you then mine since it's a wait and see. Cher

Reluctantartist, The correct spelling of crape myrtle is with an "a". As ltruett's link indicates, this may not be the best choice for the style of tree you want, and you might be better off replacing it with one that has a more naturally vertical form. You could however do a lot to encourage your 'Acoma' to grow into a tree form. Proper pruning and maybe even staking the plant could result in a form more like what you seek. If you leave the plant alone, like you are doing now, I don't think you can expect it to take on the form you want. You should probably make a decision to either replace it or work with it and manage its form.

Definately do cut out at the base, all trunks in your CM that are blooming pink. Then be certain to pinch off any new growth that the roots of those cut off branches try to keep growing. If you keep the new growth pinched off then only those roots should suffer,and the white blooming branches should begin to experience an advantage, which helps them to prosper more. Unless it is just the lighting cast on the day you took that photo of the pink blooms, the pink blooming trunks might be a Biloxi Crape Myrtle. Those bubblegum pink blooms, in my opinion are a much nicer sight than some of the more pale easily washed out pinks that some CMs produce. Anyway I only tell you this to let your know that if you do like that particular pink color and would like to have a CM growing someplace else with that color, Than simply order or find at some local nursery a Biloxi Crape Myrtle that is already blooming and that you can confirm it really is a Biloxi Crape Myrtle.

I had a different weird thing happen with a crepe myrtle. Many years ago, when I was more clueless, I got a bunch of little 1' tall tree seedlings from the Arbor Day foundation. One was a crepe myrtle, which I planted in a mostly shady spot. (Did I mention I was more clueless then?) Of course, it was spindly, leggy, got mildew every summer, grew slowly, and generally looked pathetic. It bloomed a little, with pale lavender blooms. I finally decided it wasn't ever going to do anything and I didn't much care for the bloom color, since pale lavender kind of disappears in front of gray siding. So, I cut it back to the ground. It grew back. I cut it back again and even yanked out some of the root. It grew back. I cut it back again. When it came back after my third attempt at crepe murder, I decided that if the plant was THAT determined to live, I should let it. And so I have, for years. It's a spindly single trunk plant now, about 8' tall. As it gets taller, it comes out of the shade earlier in the day. By the time it's 15' tall maybe it'll get enough sun to fill out and actually be an attractive plant, heh. But here's the kicker: the blooms are now a deep pink. Maybe it's a new plant the grew from seeds dropped by the original...but this came up in *exactly* the same spot as the lavender plant I cut down over and over. Also, there was never a tiny seedling stage - the plant got big fast the way you'd expect from an established plant returning from the roots. Still, I can't imagine the Arbor Day folks would go to the expense of sending grafted plants as their new member freebies. Does anyone even graft crepe myrtles, anyway? Maybe a myrtle fairy visited me some night and planted this pink one. Maybe somehow seeds from my other crepe (a similar, but somewhat darker pink) made their way all the way across the yard and around the garage to this exact spot. I just don't know. In any case, "the crepe that would not die" has now earned its place in my yard, ugly or not. I just hope that in time it will develop an attractive shape to go with the pretty bloom color and tough-as-nails constitution.