Be careful but I would use Roundup or generic for the poison ivy. It can get on plants you want and kill them so do a little and see what happens. It shouldn't hurt the tree if you get it on the bark. Avoid getting it on the tree leaves.

Are you sure it is poison ivy and not Virginia Creeper? I don't know how you pulled it up.

I think you would like day lilies not necessarily for the pots and boxes. Go ahead and move the crepe myrtle and stick it in the ground if you will remember to water it. It is a seedling probably and you may have more. It isn't where you want it, so move it.

I like heuchera for the colored leaves. I don't live in OK but I have Grove OK weather.

Helen- Its not creeper! It has 3 leaves for sure. There is nothing else around the tree now, or if there is its nothing I care to keep. I pulled out some kind of poisonous berry bush from there, and some kind of vine that had thorns, so IMO it can all use a spray! It was the middle of winter, I put on gloves and a heavy coat, and dug it out to the base. Or so I thought.

Thanks, I will set out moving my tree then!

I do like those day lilies, but I LOVE the heuchera!!! I will have to seek some of that out!

I'm trying to think of my longest-blooming perennials for you. I don't do a lot of perennials in pots but I think many can be grown there - just remember pots act like one zone different in winter - so in zone 7 a pot winters like zone 6 - if you plan to leave them outdoors all winter choose hardy to zone 6 plants.

Maybe perennial lantana - this is a late breaker, but will bloom all summer long. Dies back each winter, usually almost to the ground, then sprouts again. I even overwinter a lot of our annual lantanas by mulching them heavily. I usually have just about given up on them when I start seeing tiny green leaves at the base (like, just finally saw a few leaves yesterday). Phlox is another all-summer bloomer, with many colors, which I would prefer to have in a pot than in the ground because the variety I had was kind of bent on world domination. :)

Artemesia doesn't bloom but looks fantastic all summer, I like the really fine foliaged ones - this is a blue green foliage plant that makes a great canvas for other plants. Perhaps knock-out roses (love the yellow ones), midnight salvia and/or moonbeam coreopsis would work. Also love pony tails grass or bunny tails grass, for texture.

These are all better suited for your pots than your window boxes, I think. Trying to think of shorter and trailing bloomers for the window boxes. I put creeping phlox in for a trailer but it's spring flowering only, but the foliage can be evergreen here, so that might start. I don't have too many ideas for shorter perennials, will have to think on it some more!

Oh, I forgot my link - was gonna say when I started gardening in 2002, I relied extensively on Perennial Plant of the Year recommendations. And I meant May Night salvia, not midnight. See link - I think several of my off-the-top-of-my-head recs come from there!

Here is a link that might be useful: PPOY

You may need more than one application for the poison ivy. I would rather keep hitting it with Roundup than use something more persistent.

Crepe Myrtles do seed but they also sucker--that is send sprouts up from the roots a little way from the mother plant. If it starts small and grows slowly, probably seedling. If it grows faster and starts bigger, probably sucker sprout. Either way it can be moved, but you have to be more careful with a sucker. Follow the underground shoot back as close to the mother plant as you can and cut that off to move with the sucker.

Mia- I had no idea about the pots acting like different zones! I have always loved gardening, flower and veggies, but I have never gotten so into it and so serious about it until this year! I will be able to move the pots so if they need to spend the winter in the garage they can(but who knows at this rate winter might be more like summer).

I do love Lantana and it was on my list. I saw some Artemesia and thought it was beautiful. Knock Out Roses where on my list too! But I think I am leaning more toward a climbing rose this year as we have unsightly cut off pole on the corner of the front of our property. Salvia has always been a must plant in my yard! Its too pretty to pass up! And I will DEFINITELY be hunting down a pony's tail and a bunny's tail. I don't think I have ever seen them before and I am in love!

I will have to check out your link more tomorrow when I am being forced indoors! But it looks great!

Helen- I figured I would have to coat that poison ivy several times before it gives up. But I just can't have it with 2 toddlers running around!

mulberryknob- I think it was a sucker. I did just like you said and followed the roots back as far as I could. The one that tied to the mother plant either broke before I could go the whole way back, or it wasn't tied to the mother tree at all. Either way I took as much root as I could get. One of them was going under the foundation of the house, so I had to cut it off. I moved it to the north side of the house since the row of them is on the west, and there is one on the south already. My husband thinks I am crazy, but I am hoping this is like the Japanese Cherry and I can prove him wrong. So any tips for nursing it along would be appreciated!