Crape not Crepe

They're almost gone now, but this is a bloom from the crape myrtle tree that I planted alongside the lane running up to my house. I love these beautiful bloomers and everywhere I've moved in the last 10 years, something like 4 times, I have planted them somewhere in my yard. This particular tree is the most prolific I've raised so far. I planted its twin about 25 feet away, gave it the same love, water and admiration, and it has only managed about half the growth of this one. I have no idea why, unless it was somehow stunted from the beginning by the gophers that run (burrow) amok in the ground nearby. I always thought the spelling was crepe after that funny, crinkly, colorful paper we used to make huge garish, blooms from as a kid. That stuff was fun and we pulled it apart, because we could to make odd shapes knowing that it would never go back or be half as interesting as it once was. I can't speak for little boys, but some things are just irristable to little girls, like pulling the plastic grapes off the plastic vine resting in my mother's centerpiece, squeezing the air out, and suctioning them to our tongues. For some reason that was loads of fun, even though we knew my mother would frown on it. That was her phrase and things were frowned upon at my house. This is the tree from which the above blooms erupt in summer. Still in its infancy, I will prune it after it drops its leaves this fall to crate a more symetrical shape for next year's show. Like roses, Crape Myrtles are big eaters, and I've been remiss in feeding this tree on anything close to the bi-weekly schedule it relishes. I promise to do better, because I just love, love, love these beautiful specimens. And I might as well enjoy the scenery, because the state of our country's economic condition has me rooted here for probably another 5 years. This is the sister tree in the foreground. As you can see it is nothing compared to big sister down the way. Crape Myrtles simply must be women, because only we could approach anything of such beauty. Little tree is just now beginning to open its buds, while big sister is almost through the bloom. I planted them at the same time, watered and fed them on the same schedule and admired them equally, but little tree lags behind. I have since made her bowl deeper and turned up the water, but only with marginal success. I imagine a pruning this fall will help her too, and, with hope, next year I'll have more crepe paper blooms.