The look of crepe myrtle

[ted]

I live in Texas zone 7b. We have crepe myrtles all over the city. I noticed that the ones that are maintained in public areas and businesses don't have any suckers at the bottom of the tree and they look so neat. In my house it's another story. Each tall crepe myrtle has atlteast 20 suckers at the bottom. I know if I get rid of those the tree will grow better. I keep cutting them and pulling them from their root. But the roots are attached to the tree's roots. They just keep coming back.

How does one keep the suckers away and maintain a clean look at the base of the tree?

Thanks.

[escapee]

You prune them off. I leave my crape myrtles alone. They are multi-trunked trees, anyway. Mine are well over 15 feet tall.

[David J Bockman]

My experiences with the tree seem to indicate that if you catch it early enough, the tree tends to slow down/stop the sucker throwing after a couple of years. CM's have a strong propensity to sucker from the base of the trees and from the roots in the prescence of lots of moisture.

Dave