The plant should be NO lower than the natural grade of the soil and probably a bit higher. If it's deeper, soil will fill in on top of the root ball and cause problems. You might want to tell us a little bit about your planting routine (the hole size, amendments (if any), etc.) as well as the size and condition of the plant. Consider the site drainage and other environmental characteristics that might affect the plant, and share those with us. Summer-planted deciduous trees sometimes have problems upon planting time. It can certainly be done (I've done so hundreds of times) but there are some challenges. The ride on the way home from the nursery certainly didn't do the tree any good, either. Oh, can we assume that this is a container grown plant and not field grown and freshly dug?

July 22 or so....in the South of the Houston area. A recent relocation from PA to TX has been a good transition for my planting beds around the house. So far my challenge has been to get. HOSTA to grow to any size down here. it just so happens that I just bought ALL the planting soils organic soil pest garden soils sand etc. with the "full intent to transplant a 4 year old Crepe shrub.(its never been pruned in this Development. It's one of three, but blocking a Bedroom window and can't be seen under a young Oak Tree Canopy.. My PLAN was to Transplant it NOW.., this week. I figured my EXCELLENT Skill and Success in PA would surely work in the area of Texas, near the Gulf would work here. After hearing everyone's experience, I think I will WAIT UNTIL FALL ... October I think. FOLLOWING THE TEXA RECIPE SEEM SMARTER TO ME...., but waiting is HARD. My crepe does need "shaping" and I'm trying to figure out what'll look like. I'm thinking that I'll "shape it" after the last flower petals drop. Any time I've Transplanted a shrub, bush or Tree in PA, I've ALWAYS pruned the upper Growth to some extent depending on the volume of Rootball I'd been successful in removing it. Bigger ball less pruning. Smaller ball more pruning. Tamping in the rootball at points along the way, with existing and amended soil for a tight fit to the planting hole/sight was key for me. So I'd guess that'd be true with Crepes. East coast watering in the Fall for these plants was every other day, to a depth equal to the base of the root ball....4-8 gallons est. Back to Crepes, it sounds like Fall Transplant and Don't over water. Mulch the area..., create a V-shaped trench around the tree and planting area. Don't build a "mound" of Mulch, rather create a shallow "bowl shape" around the Tree that encourages water to filter down onto the Root ball. Ed..... The ....Too Long Story Teller"

Wow, that's amazing! Never knew you could seperate it from the mother plant, nor did I know you could keep a cutting from it and root it..another question, if a piece falls off or I need to prune it, how do you go about "rooting" it? I also have a dwarf allamanda, and a month ago, a branch grew to close to the fence, so I cut it off, but seeing how pretty and healthy it was, I didn't have the heart to throw it away, so I put it in the vase with water with cuttings from my Potho,.....and it actually grew roots!!! Not one by a long shot of having a green thumb..(I usually let nature take over), it surprised me. Now I'm thinking of planting that little branch elsewhere in our backyard...de

There's no real way of knowing what Lowe's is calling a 10' Natchez :-) My experience with Lowe's in our area has been they are similar to the best local nurseries with type/cultivar tag accuracy, but size info on trees and shrubs is often underestimated. Can't find the thread where someone had speculated their "mature" tree size estimates seem to be for about 10 year old plants... which can be quite misleading for ones that will live 50 or more years. Might not be 'Natchez', but my guess would be that the cultivar is right and the size estimate is way off. Cultivar, species, or even genus mistakes can happen anywhere... but do seem to occur more for me at some other big box retailers :-) The website of the Crape Myrtle Trails of McKinney Foundation founded by Neil Sperry is worth exploring. No surprise that 'Natchez' and 'Acoma' are both included on their Best Crape Myrtles by Size list, but just noticed they have 'Acoma' tagged as a spreading 10ft tall variety..... oh well. Great choice on CM as the only tree for a small yard. Bark is especially interesting and beautiful this year as it peels and pops off the trunks due to growth from the wet spring. Most of ours give surprisingly vivid and reliable fall color in north Texas - though don't remember this quite as much in Houston. And, of course, those wonderful long-blooming flowers. Edit: Didn't mean to imply that Lowe's might really be using a 10 year age for the size estimate - gist the thread if I remember correctly was that the estimates appear to be all over the place, but wrong on the low side was pretty common.