 They're trying to survive, like everything is, and the more chances they have to survive, the better the crepe myrtle thinks it is. Now, if you have a tree that's otherwise been fine and it suddenly starts sending off those sideways shoots from the edge of the trunk, not from the ground, the ones on the ground are coming either from seedlings or from the roots, but if your crepe myrtle is sending them off the side of the trunk,