I’m so sorry to hear this; I’ve been growing drought-resistant and native plants for a few years now, replacing a lawn, and it’s great to see the bees and other bugs (and birds) that have been showing up.
I haven’t run into trouble yet, but this could happen anywhere. And it’s dumb, too, as there’s a movement now among gardeners and also many public works depts. to grow low-water natives and not use herbicides/pesticides. Of course nothing’s budging the “better lawn through chemicals” lobby or abating HOA proliferation.
But this guy marking the tallest weed is just so shortsightedly human-centric, when there are some great gangly tall native “weeds” to be grown (available for sale online), including compass plant, queen of the prairie, cut-leaf rudbeckia, and Joe Pye weed, etc., etc.:
https://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/prairie/plantx/compassx.htm
http://www.illinoiswildflowers.info/wetland/plants/pr_queen.htm
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=rula3
https://www.wildflower.org/plants/result.php?id_plant=EUFI14
