Oh, man, xs, you've got a problem. What we did for the beds was put plastic over them to kill the weeds (no perennials -- they die here). You have to dig each and every one of them up. Or spray weed killer judiciously on each one. You can't use the weed killer unless you have the full plant. The weed killer kills through the leaves. Takes about a week.
My prayers are with you. We went through this last spring. It was awful.
i am calling the professionals, and i want them to do just want you said, weed by weed. i hope they will do that and not come through on some slash and burn mission, which is xsboy's style also, he wants to just be done. the front walk is overgrown, not with weeds, but the plants, the lariope and other stuff is just spilling out onto the walkway. also my wheatgrass tends to want to take over the major bed, i had the gardeners dig out a bunch of them last summer, the owner took them home and planted them in his own yard! see, the plastic stuff i can't do, bc when it is time to put it down, i don't know where half my plants are going to come up.
the foliage in CO was lovely, it doesn't have the brutal heat to contend with and everything looks fresh and perky. the planters were just full of gorgeous combinations of things. i really loved it there. i never got tired of looking at the mts. But i could never live there bc i would not want to be there in winter. 2 weeks in summer would be ideal.
I buy a liquid product called Spectracide - it kills pretty much within 12 hours - I spray big weeds then pull them up easily - great for grass growing in cracks of the sidewalk or patio, that sort of thing - there is even a battery sprayer attached to the container so I can spray a larger area without causing my hand to go into cramps!