And so, way back in 2012 I was invited to collect some white Crape myrtles from a commercial growing field.  The trees were available primarily because their trunks were not straight enough (the anti-bonsai approach to the landscape, right?).  Not that they were all twisty-turny, they just had some low trunk movement which made them fair game for bonsai.  Seeing as how each had a trunk base of 5-6″, and Crape myrtle wood is one of the absolute toughest you’ll ever try to saw, I limited myself to five specimens.

I brought them home and potted them up.  A couple failed to bud all the way up and down the trunk.  One I planted out – this one – and the second stayed in its pot and has grown its way into the ground; I’ll be lifting it next spring.  The others I sold.

So I’ve been mowing around this specimen for years now, and as time has gone on it’s started to take on some interest as a very stout kinda guy.  The more I’ve studied it, the more it has started to intrigue me.  Finally, I decided to break one of my most sacred rules: never collect a tree twice.

I could only think “Ogre” at this point.  This tree definitely needs a name.  Any ideas?

That trunk under the mouth of the tree technically makes it a clump – not to mention making it somewhat obscene.  It only lasted a day.

Here’s another view of the tree.  Could this be the front?  It looks like I’ve got a couple of choices, so no need to make any decisions now.  Besides, who re-collects a tree at this time of the year?  That’s another rule I managed to break this go-round.  But here’s the secret: Crape myrtles are a different breed.  I don’t know of any species that roots as exorbitantly as Crapes.  So that gives me a lot of confidence, considering that we have a couple of months until our first frost.

By way of scale, the trunk on this specimen measures 7-8″ across at the soil.  The root spread is a good 12″.

I spotted the a couple of trunk buds today, meaning I just might’ve gotten away with breaking another rule or two!