Today's Work on Crape Myrtle Pods

These are actually very small and dark brown. They are husks from the seed pods, which opened and spewed the seeds. Around here people do what is called "crape murder"; they cut the crape myrtles back so that they are small and covered with flowers. These are medium-sized trees when they are allowed to grow to their natural size. When they are cut back they get what look like arthritic knobs on the trunk and lower branches. Eventually people replace them with young ones that are still at the size people want. Ours are all trees.