I notice in my region that a lot of early butterflies, such as Mourning Cloaks , Commas and Red Admirals, go more for running sap, puddles etc more so than flowers. A muddy area in the garden or an overripe banana or mango go a long way... Also don't forget those ELFs, whose host plants come up and out first, such as Pussytoes, False or Stinging Nettle (latter less attractive to varmints) and Everlasting. Also, some parsley and/or fennel for that first wave of Black Swallowtails.

Do not attempt to kill bindweed by digging. Any pieces of roots you miss will keep growing. Pull as many seedlings as you can before they get their roots established. The thread below has the most sage advice I know for fighting this spawn of hell. Read the info from Bry84 toward the top of the page. Luckily, I moved away from bindweed - the easiest way to get rid of it! Sorry, I like charlie, no idea what to do but look & say "oooh how pretty!" Dandelions - just get a dandelion fork & fork 'em up from as deep as you can get. If you mow your grass a little higher, that can help. The taller grass makes more shade so they are less vigorous & easier to defeat. OK to go after these with a shovel in a flower bed. Here is a link that might be useful: bindweed thread

Pete, I hope I didn't offend you. I just didn't want you to "enjoy" an experience similar to one I had with an intensely unpleasant neighbor that used to live next to me. I completely agree with you with the desire to not dump all those chemicals on my lawn and into the ground water. Before we attempted to suppress the creeping charlie, which if you think about it is actually pretty when it blooms, we had little tree frogs in the yard. Now we don't. I also don't believe in watering my grass. I, unfortunately, live in a town of what the hubby and I call Lawn Shavers. They mow the grass off at 1 1/2 or 2 inches then water it when it browns out in the summer. The same guy that used to come and swear at me about the clover in my yard had a yard full of dandelions and creeping charlie. Go figure! Maria

Nope. Not even the glyphosate products will permanantly kill anything, and research at Iowa State University is telling us that many "weeds" are developing immunities to many of the "weed killers" out there. Dandelions produce prodidious amounts of seed as does Creeping Charlie and that is how these spread around for the most part. Birds also eat the seeds produced by many "weeds" and plant them as they fly over your yard.