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The democratic symbolism of the lawn may be appealing, but it carries an absurd and, today, unsupportable environmental price tag. In our quest for the perfect lawn, we waste vast quantities of water and energy, human as well as petrochemical. (The total annual amount of time spent mowing lawns in America comes to 30 hours for every man, woman, and child.) Acre for acre, the American lawn receives four times as much chemical pesticide as any U.S. farmland...

But the deeper problem with the American lawn, and the reason I believe the White House lawn must go, is less chemical than metaphysical. The lawn is a symbol of everything that's wrong with our relationship to the land. Lawns require pampering because we ask them to thrive where they do not belong.

Turfgrasses are not native to America, yet we have insisted on spreading them from the Chesapeake watershed to the deserts of California without the slightest regard for local geography. Imposed upon the land with the help of our technology, lawns encourage us in the dangerous belief that we can always bend nature to our will. They may bespeak democratic sentiments toward our neighbors, but with respect to nature the politics of lawns are totalitarian.

Read the whole essay...

Haddon's Less Lawn website has LOTS of practical ideas for ways to reduce your lawn and substitute something more beneficial.

Just one of the many suggestions you'll find on the website is to create "tree islands." After all, trees aren't good for lawns, and lawns aren't good for trees.

She describes:
A Tree Island with Groundcover - low-growing perennials surrounding the tree instead of lawn;
 a Woodland Island - shrubs and perennials under the tree; and
a Savanna Island - a mix of native grasses (under trees that are compatible with this.)

She also discusses practical details, such as the shape of your tree island and the how-tos of creating one.

A great website that provides lots of other ways to reduce your lawn!

NOTE: Many of these pages were written before people were aware of the importance of native plants, so just substitute native plants for any non-native suggestions. She recently wrote about Tallamy and his ideas, though.