This is crepe myrtle bark shedding.
Most folks correctly guessed this was some sort of tree bark – and they were ALL correct.
This bark is from one of the crepe myrtle trees at the Frog & PenguINN. We planted a row of these from cuttings that friends gave us when we relocated here. We just stuck them in the dirt and watered them. Some neighbors actually laughed out loud and said, “those things won’t grow.”
GROW they did – and here’s PROOF.
Crepe myrtles bloom in shades of red, pink, purple, or white and are currently in bloom all along the eastern shore; ours are all white.
Bark shedding is a normal process of these trees and happens after the tree has reached full maturity. Once it has finished shedding, the wood has some very unique colorations.
Crepe myrtle trees are Southern favorites requiring full sun; they are drought-tolerant once established. While some can be found as far north as Baltimore, Maryland, they fare suited in warmer regions. There are various spellings of the name – crepe myrtle, crape myrtle or crapemyrtle. 
The fall foliage of these trees is very colorful when they display bright yellows and deep red leaves. Ours looked like this last autumn. Crepe myrtles are deciduous, which means that they lose all their leaves seasonally; so in winter these trees are totally bare.
10 comments:
The crepes aren't at all crappy.
I have never seen one, they are beautiful !
What a wonderful sight to have these in a row next to your house. My River Birch has bark like that. The shedding gives it an interesting texture and it isn't dying even though at first you think that it is. The flowers are wonderful to see.
Those are very pretty! So nice!
They are beautiful. I have a very young Crepe myrtle. It hasn't been too long that we have been able to grow them around here. We are at the northernmost zone, lately. Climate change seems to be warming us here in the Ohio Valley.
nellie
Have never seen any of these trees. They are just gorgeous.
Well, being a northern gal, this is not a tree that I am familiar with. It's very pretty and the red trunks and branches must be quite spectacular.
as many times as i have seen and still see crepe myrtles, i have never noticed the bark thing. thanks for sharing this. and the sticks grew into beautiful trees
i can't get ours to bloom this year. they loaded up on buds but with the extreme heat and drought, i can't get enough water into them before the sun bakes it back out and the buds fall off... so i'll enjoy yours.
Hi All, glad you enjoyed seeing our blooms and the answer to the "What is This?" chappenge.
AC, they are very pretty but annoying when I have to cut around them as the branches are heavy when flowering and tend to sag,
Hey Country Girl, glad to be the first to show you what is a fairly common tree in these parts. Mona and Elaine these would certainly NOT bloom in your parts of the country. Sorry to read that yours are not blooming texwisgirl, guess they are getting TOO much of the sun they thrive on.
Yeah Larry, you would think they were dying when the shedding starts and I read quite a few online gardening forums where people really thought that's what was happening to their trees.
Sandra, guess you will be noticing the bark shedding and maybe we'll see it in a future post!
Hi Nellie (Beyong My Garden) ours took a few years as well and then really took off and no matter how often I trim them, they keep growing!
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