Crape murder. Many have heard of this vicious crime committed on innocent plants. For those of you who are not familiar with this hideous crime, it is the butchering of crape myrtles (Lagerstroemia spp.) by improper pruning.
To underscore the severity of this crime one has only to Google “crape murder” and see page after page of sites that talk about it. However, I have learned the definitive proof that this is a crime. According to the Charlotte Observer in Charlotte, NC, the Albemarle Road Presbyterian Church was fined $4,000 for improper pruning of its crape myrtles. “The church was fined $100 per branch cut for excessive pruning, bringing the violation to $4,000”. (This was later changed to $4,700).
“The fine will be dropped if the church replaces each of the improperly pruned trees,” said Tom Johnson, senior urban forester for city of Charlotte Land Development Division. “When they are nonrepairable, when they have been pruned beyond repair, we will ask them to be replaced”, Johnson said. “We do that for a number of reasons but mainly because they are going to come back unhealthy and create a dangerous situation down the road.”…