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DS gave me two crape myrtle trees for Mother's Day. I would like to plant them close enough to our patio to provide some shade in the late afternoons, however, I am afraid the roots may eventually damage our new patio. Any advice on this issue is greatly appreciated.

Hi FrenchCountry,
I used to volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and our landscape tree of choice was a crape myrtle. If it were a pine tree, or Mary Nell holly, I could definitely understand your fears, but this is a crape myrtle. The crape will "behave" itself root wise and usually it will send up suckers, but you should have no real problems with the crape.
I have several crape myrtles planted around my house and in the landscape.

Thanks, Barb, for putting my mind at ease.

French County - I agree with Barb about the roots. Crapes are such pretty flowering trees. What color(s) are you planning? BTW, intrigued my your name, does it signify your choice of decorating inside? I've always gravitated to magazine pictures of that style.

Hi, SSTR. My DS already gave me the Crape Myrtles - they are lavender colored.
Yes, I love french country style decorating. Charles Faudree is my hero.

Cool!

I had two places I wanted to plant Crape Myrtles near the house a couple of years ago.
One is in the middle of the front courtyard. We removed some pavers and put in in a 5'x5' square bed. The other is in the middle courtyard in between two slabs about 10 feet apart. I don't have any worries about the roots.

FC, I'm glad you brought up this subject. Now I can plant my cm's where I didn't think I would be able to plant anything! I'd never considered that the roots wouldn't travel like a big tree's roots.
Thanks all you gals! It's sooo much fun to keep learning!