Mark, I cant say much about your project, except do a good rip-out.

I will show you some I ripped out about 6 years ago. The remaining roots kept coming back. I kept them mowed for 5 years. This year was so hot and dry I only mowed the old home place a few times, we got 6+" of rain in Aug.. Afterwards I went over to mow and saw the crepe myrtles had grown in this god forsaken summer. You can see 3 or 4 of the 25 or 30 we busted loose from the clump planted in the background.

These crepe myrtles were on this place when I moved here 60+ years ago, and may be here when I am gone.

Larry

HAHAHAHAHA, oh man. Does not inspire confidence. I soaked that bed all night long (does that sound dirty?) and ripped them out with a tow rope attached to my car. That was at the beginning of summer. Now, I have several new ones that are a few feet tall. I'm determined these things are UN-killable.

I was hoping for a little inspiration. I at least got a good laugh. :-)

I agree that a good ripout is essential, and even though you remove all the root you can, you might fight suckers regrowing from any roots you missed, and you may fight them for years. Some people have luck with leaving several inches of stump in the ground and drilling holes in the stump and pouring brush killer into the holes and, at the same time, using a foam paintbrush to paint the brushkiller onto the stump. The idea is to thoroughly kill any roots attached to the stump. Still, you ultimately have to remove the stump or the crape myrtles come back.

As for what kind of bulbs (or corms, tubers, rhizomes, etc.) you can plant in fall for spring blooms, there are many. The most commonly planted ones probably are tulips, daffodils, hyacinths, grape hyacinths and crocus. Just remember that in the fall, you plant spring flowering bulbs. Then, in mid- through late-spring you plant bulbs, tubers, corms, rhizomes, etc. that will bloom in summer and fall. That group includes dahlias, gladiolus, cannas and caladiums.

You're in a slightly colder area that I am, so hopefully someone who is in your part of the state can tell you what can be planted now that will stay green throughout the winter. Here in far southcentral Oklahoma, plants in the category include pansies, violas, snapdragons and dianthus.

For the long term, the plants that grow best for me in west-facing beds in the summer are those that really love heat. Salvias and catmint are two I use a lot in the west facing beds, and verbena bonariensis (a tall verbena with very thin stems) and zinnias are virtually foolproof, even in clay. One of the toughest plants I grow is the Laura Bush petunia. I have them in purple and in shades of pink, but understand they now have a seed blend with white ones in it. The Laura Bush petunias did better than almost anything else in 2011, blooming almost every month of the year. I have found them to be both very heat-tolerant and very cold-tolerant. They have smaller flowers than the hybrid petunias we're all familiar with. The flowers that tolerated the heat best, blooming all summer with no irrigation whatsoever (they are 300' from the water faucet and I am not going to carry water to them or drag a hose that far) were the globe amaranth, aka gomphrena. They struggled a bit in August when temps were hitting 112-115 day after day, but at that point they'd only had about 12 or 13" of rain for the whole year. The globe amaranth I have now is called 'Strawberry Fields' and it has red flowers. It reseeds well and comes back every year here. I've also grown them in various shades of purple and whitish-purple in a different area of the landscape.

Dawn

This is also the time to plant Lycoris squamageri aka Surprise Lilies aka Naked Ladies. The foliage comes up in Jan giving you a nice patch of green to look at all spring, dies back in May and then in August after a bit of rain, the bare flower stalk erupts with lovely fragrant pink lilies. And coincidentally, I have some to share. Can't sell them on here as you know, but for $10.00 cash for postage--and it usually takes that much--I will send a baker's dozen bulbs. email me if interested.

thanks everyone for your input! Dawn, that gave me all the information I need to make informed decisions on what to plant. Thank you so much! Now, to begin the Crepe Murder. :)

On bulbs, my best recommendation is daffodils. Tulips are iffy at best, but daffodils will come back year after year. I have planted them as late as January, and never before Thanksgiving, so you have some time yet.

This year the plants that did the best in your type of conditions in my yard were: lantana, profusion zinnias, autumn sage (salvia greggi), annual blue salvia (which is perennial in my yard), nepeta, achillea moonshine, russian sage, Archduke Charles Rose (from Chamblees). There's probably more, I'll think about it. The Autumn Sage is a perennial that will make a nice (short) bush and it blooms sporadically all season. It was the plant I was most pleased with this year. The lantanas did well too.

You mentioned soil in buckets. It's not lightweight potting soil is it? If you add a high concentration of potting soil, you will end up with a soil that drains really quickly and dries out. I have that situation in a flower bed at my church from years and years of adding plants each year. I really need to dig it out a couple of feet down and add some real soil back in there. Cotton burr compost is wonderful stuff to add in! I love to use it in my beds.