Probably as a result of where I grew up (rural southeastern US, 20 miles from the closest population center over 1k people). But I have never considered dandelions to be weeds. Just another interesting plant in the multitude of grasses that made up our 3 acre front yard.

Clover, dandelions, crabgrass, dallisgrass, etc were just part of our yard. We also used it often as grazing for the horses as an alternative to spending hours mowing every few weeks. So any attempt as species control would have been undone by the horse manure anyways.

Dandelions are considered weeds in a botanical sense because they are non-native invasive plants in the United States. Same with clovers, crabgrasses, dallisgrass, and many other common lawn plants.

That's only true for certain species in the Taraxacum genus. There are many Taraxacum and other chicories native to North America which most people would still call "dandelion".

Many species, but by actual counts the non-natives are vastly over-represented.

https://www.inaturalist.org/observations?place_id=1&subview=...

I mean, isn't lawn grass non-native as well?

Most popular lawn grasses were created using selective breeding. People will argue about whether they are properly considered native to anywhere, or whether they belong in some third category of man-made organisms.

If you live some place with a winter, you will have a barren patch of dirt then. If you live somewhere with a long, cold, wet fall or early spring, then you hill have a tiny field of mud for the local animals to wallow in.

If you live within throwing distance of a neighbor who does not wish to have a lawn of dandelions, you will be a target of ill feelings for your invasive weed colony.

Lawn grasses have been selected to keep the ground covered and tolerate being walked on and played on. If you don't want to walk on or play on your yard, then there is a wide choice of ground cover that keeps the ground covered all year long and isn't a wildly airborne spreading invasive weed.

A wildly airborne spreading invasive food crop with nice yellow flowers sounds kind of ... great? Why do we consider dandelions weeds?

To dovetail off the current sibling comment -- what you are describing is still a monoculture.

You could create a beautiful multi species meadow that would cycle through different plants with the seasons. Or you could build vegetable garden beds surrounded by wood mulch. Or use a low lying no-mow ground over.

I'm not sympathetic to the neighbors who might not like it, though. If their yard's ecosystems isn't resilient then that's their problem.

I read that they’re good nitrogen fixers so I left mine this year (they really should be our provincial flower), dead-heading them before the seed puffs appear. I’m also working on a nettle patch in one corner as they are the preferred egg laying spot for certain butterflies.