Crape Myrtle Guy began unexpectedly. I wanted to line my large back lot fence with beautiful crape myrtles.  I wanted the larger variety of crape myrtles and decided on white Natchez.  I found a sweet woman named Janice Myers on an online gardening forum.  Janice was a master propagator of crape myrtles and offered to sell me a bundle of starter crape myrtles.  Being the ‘cheap’ person I am, I figured I’d save some money buying these small crapes knowing they are super fast growers.  I began with 100 starter crapes and decided the ones I did not need might sell on Craigslist. I bought some used containers from a local nursery, potted the crapes, and created an ad on Craigslist. I sold out the first weekend!!  Repeat, repeat, repeat. Then sweet talked Janice into showing me how to propagate.  Figured I was making a little spending money and should give myself a name.  Then I figured I should create a website. Then someone found me on the internet and ask me if I could ship them to her. Then I screwed up several shipments before figuring out how to ship them securely. My backlot has now become a backyard nursery that includes a 2000 square foot greenhouse/high tunnel and my garage has become a shipping warehouse that has shipped thousands of crapes myrtles all over the southern and eastern parts of the United States.

High School Teacher and Former Football Coach: Teaching high school math is my ‘real job’.  I was a high school football coach for almost 20 years and was lucky enough to coach several elite NFL players.  It was a fun ride….

I love piddling in the yard, teaching, coaching, fishing, and crape myrtle trees!

My Gurus:

Janice Myers: I contacted Janice again… and again..and again. After a few purchases,  Janice helped me get started on my own. She has been a huge help to me and I really owe her big time for getting me started. She pretty much showed me… well, she emailed me everything I needed to grow and sell my own crapes. I then started adding more varieties and learned to propagate my own. Read my page on crape propagation!

Lee Ann Torrans at http://leeanntorrans.com provides all my images. Lee Ann has graciously allowed me to use her unbelievable photographs. She also helped develop my website that could be found on the internet. We work closely together to be certain that the Crape Myrtle colors are just right so you will know exactly what you are ordering. I highly recommend her site and her images.

Neil Sperry & Crape Myrtle Trails of McKinney: I rely on Neil Sperry’s size and attributions to describe my crapes and the zones in which they will grow. Here in Texas, he’s the Master Tree Guy! I recommend his Crape Myrtle Poster as the ultimate authority!