That's what I meant about not enough information --may lead to a host of recommendations, which could be appropriate and inappropriate. Arugula, I suppose I don't know for sure whether your desire to replace lawn is enthusiastic but somewhat naive (at this point) or that of someone who really knows his site, climate, size and condition of space to be planted, f/u maintenance, and can end up with a marvelous lawn alternative (along with that, need to know the various lawn grasses for your area, in that lawn grasses can't all be lumped as higher maintenance, as noted by gottagarden). But your posts sound more like you're just starting to learn about groundcovers and growth habits. So I'd just be cautious about jumping in with a lawn-eradication plan based on what you learn from a few posts here. BTW, replacing lawn with groundcover or other plantings in not naive or wrong in itself at all--it's just that it can be a lot harder to "get it right" than a simple lawn, and so need to go at it--planning, installing, and maintaining-- with more knowledge than a grass-owner may need to know. Plus, there is a lot of "hype" out there currently--magazines go blah blah blah--about how John or Susie replaced all their awful front grass "so we don't have to mow". Most of these spreads are extremely high maintenance. Some of the western/desert xeriscaping, however, is really cool and low-maintenance. Anyway, the hype has led to a lot of posts from beginning gardeners about how they want to go do that tomorrow, all by themselves--hence my being a bit on the alert. So without photos of the area you have in mind, or hearing more experience in your posts, I just think that you may either need some professional on-site input about what are the best options, or may need to do some more legwork yourself. Typical actions that can help are: reading up more on growing conditions, groundcovers, xeriscaping; driving around your area to see if anyone has planted anything remotely like what you're contemplating (obviously, sometimes you can't find it because no one else is brave enough to do something different, but sometimes it's because it isn't that practical), look on the internet and in books for info and photos on groundcovers, lawn-free yards, and so on. If I've misread the situation and/or made things sound overcomplicated (I do tend to be cautious and detailed), then please forgive.

Hi Carol23, A bit of concern here. How do you clean the containers? I can see it now - someone reads your post and sees your very cool photos and collects up caterpillars, doesn't know squat about how to care for them, and they die. Would you please share a bit more about how this works or direct us to a site that explains in detail? Thanks!

It is true that common milkweed is a very aggressive plant. I garden for wildlife and butterflies and I chose not to have this particular milkweed in my garden because of this. There are some other beautiful milkweeds you can grow that are much better behaved, such as swamp milkweed (Asclepias incarnata) and butterfly weed (Asclepias tuberosa), which is sold as an ornamental by many nurseries. They will benefit the monarchs and attract other butterflies with their nectar, look beautiful in your yard, and not be overly aggressive. If you hop over to the butterfly forum, many people will be glad to give you seed for these plants and many others and will point you in the right direction for growing them for next year. I agree that there's no need for humans to be aggressive either. SHOUTING and name-calling are completely inappropriate. I am a butterfly lover and Jewish and being called a Nazi of any kind is deeply offensive to me.

the mullien will produce a seed pod with about a billion seeds.. all of which could sprout in your garden next year .. if left.. you will have a couple hundred more next year ... get rid of it in a formal garden ... if you have a wild flower field of a few acres ...... intended to feed birds ... then it could stay ... because it would fit within the definition of the garden you grow ... ergo.. for most of us.. its an aggressive reseeder.. not welcome in the garden .. no matter how cute and fuzzy it is .... ken https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=mullien+seed+pod&FORM=HDRSC2