Just remember that you can't do anything to chop up the roots too much, and you can't add inches of soil over the roots. That is, if you want to keep the Crapes healthy. If you can comply to those caveats, you can plant anything you like with them.

Are you in the Southeast? If so, Indian Hawthorne (_Raphaelepsis indica_) is commonly used as an evergreen, spring-flowering "skirt" around crape myrtles planted in the adverse conditions of public parking lots, or non-public parking lots, as the case may be. It's readily available at the garden centers of the Big Box Retailers, and elsewhere. It's inexpensive, and, thus, grossly overplanted. It's low maintenance and produces clusters of pink or white flowers, followed by dark-blue fruit in the fall and winter. There are low-growing cultivars and tall, tree-like cultivars. I think I would use the pill-box-hat sized cultivars for the setting you have described. (P. S. Prig that I am, I'm not at all sure I've spelled the first part of the plant's Latin name correctly; however, at ten minutes before midnight, I'm mightily disinclined to verify the spelling. Please feel free to correct my spelling. For some reason, I'm pretty sure the Latin name is not quite like that of the famous Italian artist Raphael. But what the heck, in the words of the old cigarette ad, "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should. Do you want good grammar, or good taste.")

A caveat: I would wait till next fall to plant this shrub so as not to have to do so much watering to help it survive the summer.

You will probably find an excellent, illustrated description of this plant on Floridata or the Websites of the Extension Offices of such Southern cow colleges as Clemson University, fondly called Moo U, the University of Georgia, North Carolina State University, the University of Florida, etc.

I don't usually correct people on misspellings of Latin nomenclature, but since you asked........

It's Rapheolepis, Jay. Many people misspell and mispronounce it with the extra 's'. It is actually pronounced....Rafe e OH le piss. I suspect that you have been saying...Rafe e oh LEP sis. Right? ;-) Common mistake.

Indian Hawthorn is a good suggestion. That should be Hawthorn and not Hawthorne, by the way. I think that there is only one HawthornE, and he was an early 19th century author, Nathanial.

Dottie's suggestions are also good. I'm a fan of the much used Parsoni Juniper even though it is so over used in some locations. It can take brutal conditions, that's for sure.

Thanks for the suggestions! So, I can basically plant anything as long as it doesn't choke the roots of the crapes?
That sounds good.
I really like the Lantana and Hawthorn ideas.
I'm personally more of an herb and berry person, but I'll do a little more research to see what my best options would be. Thanks!

Any herbs that would work? The spot is partial shade, by the way, if that helps. I was thinking mint, lavender, or chive, but I read that mint doesnt like competition with tree roots somewhere.

Sneaselkat..if there are deer traversing and browse feeding in your neighborhood, hawthorn is at risk and the bite marks to the leaves aren't very attractive. Just a reminder in case you have deer.

I planted Asiatic Lollipop Lilies (bulbs) under my crape myrtles and they have done well. Currently, the crape myrtles are just beginning to leaf out and the Lilies are beginning to bloom.
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Other plants in this bed are daylilies, balloon flowers, sago palm, azaleas, etc.
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Best of luck!

We put in a couple of new crapes last fall and under planted with purple coneflowers. I wanted something casual that I could see from a distance. We also have low growing Indian Hawthorne elsewhere and I think it is a great choice for almost any application....it is the Mary Poppins of my garden, practically perfect in every way :)