I'll bet you added that plastic border fairly recently. Either that or you cut a root while weeding. The baby formed from a severed root of the larger crape. the root system of the baby tree probably mainly radiates out away from the parent tree, so you can keep that in mind when you go to dig it up. I'd try to get at least a foot of root length (based on my guesstimate of size from the picture and assuming root structure similar to what I'd expect in this situation). Crape myrtle root divisions are pretty easy to transplant. Just take your time and get a reasonable amount of root as you remove your baby crape. You may also want to be careful not to cut a lot more of the parent tree's roots in the process of digging up the baby. I'd give this job a rating of easy. P.S. Be careful to get down deep enough to get a good piece of root. Depending on various factors, the bulk of the root system on some of these can be deeper than what you might expect from a seedling of similar size.

just curious...can u tell us where u purchased these? I bought a dozen of those dwarf c. m. and they all died on me. It came from a nursery in Florida. I forgot the name and I read here somewhere that others had the same problem. I can't vouch for dwarf C. M. but I have a 20' footer for 25 years and they are hard to kill. Depending on the weather they at times do get spots on the leaves. I spray with water and vinegar and it helps. Good luck

Yes it is a true dwarf. The mature height is listed a 3-5 ft. My friend got a bunch of them from on an line nursery, as replacement plants from a company she uses online. She had to many and shared two with me. She said hers are growing well. They were very, very small when I got them. Maybe that's why they didn't do well the first winter, I don't know. They do look like they are struggling. When I looked it up - I believe mine is cherry Razzle Dazzle - it said it is deciduous and 3 ft tall - 4 ft wide. I will try to post a photo soon. Thanks again.

Hi, Ken. No, I do not miss NYC one tiny bit. I love living in the Baltimore suburbs. Just waiting, as I said, for one of those little houses to come on the market and I will strike. Meanwhile, looks like my mini heuchie "Frost" won't be coming back. I'm waiting to see who else didn't make it through the winter before making an order to replace them. Every day or so, I am seeing another pip on someone else. You would have gone CRAZY at the Patuxent Nursery in Bowie, MD. They had stuff I've only read about, never seen in the flesh. They must have had 40 varieties of succulents for groundcover alone. They had many varieties of heuchies (but not any of the Lil Cuties group to which "Frost" belongs), but few hostas. Zillions of varieties of veggie starts, including chocolate cherry tomatoes my friend Mindy was seeking. They had several spectacular new varieties of petunia, one of which I bought ("Blackberry Cheesecake", gorgeous), lots of beautiful shrubs I'd never heard of before let alone seen, many varieties of Japanese maples, spirea, fruit trees, nut trees, just WOW! Mindy found a dwarf fig tree she'd been seeking and many other veggies she wanted. Their indoor succulent selection was tremendous--had varieties I'd never seen in the flesh. They had beautiful geraniums in unusual colors, and every kind of paver/flagstone/sand/river stones/boulders. Anyone who likes to garden would go out of their mind at this nursery, so it was a great birthday trip to make with a friend who also loves plants. My new crape myrtle is about 2' tall. It has a healthy crop of oxalis growing and flowering in the container's soil, so it's been around in that pot for a while. Should I be concerned that it is not leafed out yet? I am including a whole shrub shot below and a closeup of the top. I am wondering if I should prune the 4" real skinny twigs which cross at points. There are either no buds on them or only one or two.