You can pot up plants you want to keep, but bare root them and be sure all the weed roots are removed and then pot them in new media for while you get rid of the weeds.

If there is enough sun, you may be able to solarize the bed, covering it with plastic sealed at the edges to allow heat and dryness to kill back both roots and seeds. Otherwise, follow one of floral’s suggestions. As she said, you will need to stay very on top of the edging to keep the grass from creeping back in.

Yes, I omitted the bit about cleaning up the plant roots that you want to keep. Vital step. Solarising is beyond my experience. It's not an option in my climate.

I do daily patrols after work during the growing season - with the way the roots have gone under the walkways and sidewalk, tha'ts what it takes just to give the plants I have breathing space (not to mention that's the only way to keep on top of the nandina that's trying to break out too - but that's at least restricted to the part closest to the house.)

Ellen, if you can face the one off big effort, clearing the bed completely would mean you shouldn't need to weed daily in future.

Bindweed has extremely long and deep roots, so it's very difficult to deal with. My yard has been invaded as well. Two things help - continual removal of the top growth with a hula hoe (or by hand) so it doesn't have any leaves producing food for the roots, and Roundup. Bindweed is pretty tough, and I heard Roundup works best when the bindweed is flowering. I apply it to the leaves with a brush so it doesn't get on other plants or run off into the soil. You don't have to get all the leaves, just some on each vine.

I highly recommend going the solarization route, fighting Bermuda and bindweed year after year after year gets exhausting. My mother has been doing it for 40 years because of refusal to endure the transition of an overhaul. I have lambs ear and daylilies and I don't think they can keep out the weeds even when they are thick; eventually a sprig gets established and you're dealing with it all over again... and especially if you're also trying to restrict water usage.

For something spiky and dark green, consider an upright Rosemary. Question about your redbud: is it planted far enough from your house? In the photo it looks to be 3-4' away which is not enough distance once it matures.

Hello fellow Sacramentan! Yes, the redbud is about 12 feet from the dripline - that photo really forshortens the space. I'm in the Pocket in case that gives you an idea of what kind of a situation I have. The one really great thing about clay is that it makes water restriction easier on the plants, if you have enough mulch.

I should admit I'm not in the absolutly worst place as far as bindweed and bermuda grass are concerned, there's just few enough that I don't want to go ahead and try the solarization route - some of my azaleas are 20 years old and I can't really dig out the camellia. I also can't solarize another part of my yard because my neighbor's birch tree seems to have half its roots there and a) I like my neighbors so I don't want to hurt their stuff and b) that tree's a gonner anyway so there's no real rush.

Have you seen the new rosemary being sold as slow-growing/dwarf? I would LOVE to have that but the rosemary around here usually gets 6'x6' within the first 3 years.

The rosemary you are looking for is 'Roman Beauty'. It is a cross betwen an upright rosemary and a prostrate form and is slow growing, compact and sort of sprawly. Gets about 2-3' tall and wide. And you can always prune it to keep it even smaller :-) Lots of good dishes benefit from being seasoned with fresh rosemary springs!

'Roman Beauty' rosemary