I agree with you assessment. Front is salvageable, back needs the work. I disgaree with the FLA 2,4D recommendation though. 2,4D is great for those salad greens but you need stronger for the barnyard grass/crabgrass (can't tell from far away pictures) Spraying herbicides in high heat like we have is detrimental to the existing grass. Thing is, I don't see much grass in the back yard to worry about. So here's what *I* would do for now. Buy Weed B Gone w/Crabgrass Killer concentrate or the Spectricide equivalent, the key ingredient is Quinclorac. Apply a blanket application on the back using an Ortho 'Dial A Sprayer'. Few days later, start irrigating the whole lawn, watering well. Front and back. This wakes those weeds up. 2 weeks later, spot spray any weeds that spring up or were missed the first app. in the back. Labor Day, seed the back yard. Labor Day, fertilize both the front and back yard. The fertilizer will get any weeds growing in the front, spot spray as needed. October, repeat fertilizing on both lawns and weed control on the front only. (if you have mowed the new grass 3 times by now, you can gently spritz the back yard with he weed killer too) November, repeat above on both areas. Back lawn is now mature enough for weed killer. Fall is the best time to kill weeds since most are winter annuals. Killing them in fall means little to none the next spring. Then next spring, in the St. Joe, GR, Kazoo SE MI area, late March/April 1st, apply a pre-emergent WITHOUT fertilizer. You can buy Scotts Halts alone, without fertilizer at Ace Hardware. (there are other vendors that sell better/cheaper products geared for pros, that a private home owner can also buy, but for now, we;ll keep it simple and use Ace) Then in early May, once you are cutting actual grass regularly and frequently .... you apply your first fertilizer of the year - and repeat the above! Keep up with any weeds, spot spraying as needed and wait until Labor Day to fertilize again. No need for marketing BS, applying steps 1 through 86. Once in Spring and a couple/few in fall, and you'll be the envy of the block with green grass and all weed free.

It IS the bane of MY existence and has been ever since I STUPIDLY planted it 18 years ago. It's Hedera Helix. It grows UNDER the patio and comes out the other side, then goes under the fence where I have since planted many clematis vines, therefore cannot spray Round-Up or any other weed killer. I rip as much as possible when I can see it well - in Spring and Fall after everything else has died back - then I use a product called 'Vinex' (you can google it - I had to buy it online but I hear ACE hardware carries it). But you must be very careful with it because it will kill everything it touches including 100 year old trees (eventually). I use the little 'paintbrush' tip on the container and apply to the end of the vine - pulling it back as far as I can until I can no longer get any out of the ground - then paint Vinex on it (about a half-inch of the vine). But if you are successful -- and it will not happen fast -- your neighbors will no longer have it either. The other major mistake of my life was Boston Ivy. And Trumpet Vine. And Sweet Autumn Clematis - which grew under the house and came out the other side. I need to move. Westy

Hi Sandy, That's cool! I've begun finding interesting things in my yard too, no where near where the original plants were. I guess that's how nature is supposed to work! Last year I began finding lobelia(red) and poppies away from where I had planted them, which was a neat finding. I've discovered, if you can wait awhile in the spring to mow the lawn, you can find all sorts of surprises growing! Last year, I found a blue lobelia growing next to my little water garden. It had been years and years since I had planted one of those, and it died. So it was really neat to see it growing! Good luck with the milkweed!

Hi, I don't think many plants compete well with the ivy. Someone here can probably comment more on that. The plants you've chosen have a rather large variety of growing requirements... V. bluebells generally take a rich woodsy soil with a fair amount of shade. V. creeper is a ground cover that I don't think will do well in pots. Elderberries get very big, sucker and like quite a bit of water and at least part sun. Green coneflowers get very big. I have huge clumps of them growing by the creek. I am not positive of their growing requirements, but they are growing wild in my yard in part sun and above average moisture. Great blue lobelia requires at least part sun and above average moisture. That might do OK in a pot. Some types of milkweed have a large taproot, so I'm not sure they will do well in pots. I'm not sure if they all have taproots, though. Blue wood aster may do OK in pots. Most types of JPW get very large. They like above average water and at least part sun, preferably full. While I think there are many natives that would do well in pots, I am not sure all those you have in mind would work well. I hope I'm not discouraging you from trying natives in pots. You may want to do a little more research on what you chose to try. Hopefully others here can offer their thoughts. I'm by no means an expert. As far as IDs, the only one I know from your pics is the one in the pink pot--a hosta. Blue Ridge Mountain Girl