Love this idea. I see HOAs being the biggest hurdle.

I'd definitely support this idea in Seven Oaks. In addition to water-saving goals, there's also the reduced use of chemicals and fertilizers that end up in the bay and other waterways. Plus, the reduced annoyance of the sound of weed eaters and lawnmowers on the weekends!

I assume the push for Victory Gardens was an easy sell during War times in the past, but if cast in an equally-necessary light, your proposal could have significant beneficial impacts on our area's waterways.

Plus, I personally would rather see townhouse lawns full of wild flowers than dead, brown grass during the heat of the summer.

Grass is one of the biggest problems for the Chesapeak Bay and surrounding areas, The less grass and the more native plants the better we all will be. HOAs are the problems. They appear to be as corrupt and ignorant as most of those that sit on them in judgement of others. Piney Orchard is a perfect example of this. If you want them to support native plants instead of grassy common grounds you had better get the support of the apartment complex owners there.

I support this change of mindset. Let the lawns go and have common areas in HIS communities where the manacuring can be enjoyed by all. Would be good for community strength also. Might get us to visit with our neighbors :)

Why not ban blog servers?

If I could I'd pull a "Las Vegas" and just have stones for our yard. Where I live, no grass grows and our entire street looks like hell. We've tried - everything. The few neighbors (two) on our streets with lush lawns pay a law care company. Pass.

I'm all for being a good steward of the planet we live on, but I find this suggestion to be a bit on the ridiculous side. My lawn is very green and there are no fertilizers used on it. In fact, I've never used fertilizers on any lawns in any place I've ever lived. The only time I've never had green grass was during droughts, but mine wasn't the only lawn with that problem then. Good for people in the southwest who have rocks for lawns. I don't live in the southwest and I'm not about deny my daughter so basic of an enjoyment as running around barefoot through the grass for a perceived issue.

Just to make sure everyone is responding to the same, I am speaking of changing a mindset that grass is "needed". No legislation. To do so we would have to offer and demonstrate a non-grass option. Get communities and HOA's to allw the freedom to have an option that omits fertilizer and omits water other than rain. Some people like stones (Las Vegas likes a lot of grass) some people like plants and a lot of flowers. There is a need. Read this http://broadneck.patch.com/blog_posts/your-weekly-unsafe-water-report-mill-creek-was-really-bad

There may be some photos around the area to upload of non-grass beautiful yards.
No Amy, there is a lot more grass to replace before we develop an option for golf courses but I would imagine they could get along with much less.

it will be a never ending battle to save the bay (which i support) if sewage treat plants keep having spills in the bay/tributaries

What a twit...good stewards of the earth yes! Idiot ideas no!

Not sure what TJ means. Not that I want to though. <Grin> I would hope that more would respond who are familiar with the solutions. I suppose a basic question should be "Do you believe that the Bay is in trouble and does/will that make a difference if it continues?" Tommy commented about his children playing in grass. I would gladly give up the grass if my children and I could play in the Bay. I paddle and sail but getting wet or swimming in the bay can almost assure infection or illness. A campaign to heighten use and awareness of indigenous plants and xeriscape can provide motivation to rid the bay of sewage.

How far would you go in changing your world to provide a clean healthy safe Bay?

I am pleased that in my neighborhood, Round Bay, many of our neighbors are planing native grasses, many people don't even have green yards anymore, and people on the water are using soft-scaping, planting grasses, etc. -- in lieu of having a green fertilized lawn right down to rip-rap. This kind of treatment is catching on, so I support your efforts. Visiting Home Owner's Associations to talk about this idea would be a place to start. The River Keeper ORganizations do make this point when they do their work with waterfront communities (they speak of green grass as basically evil :)). Keep up the good work.

Every year I add more native plants and subtract more grass to fertilize and mow. I am down to 15 minutes to mow my yard, and it this drought keeps up I won't have ot mow all summer

I like your idea Rusty. The more native plants we grow, the less we have to mow and fertilize and water. There are some great photos of gardens of native plants and some great info on native plants at http://rainscaping.org. An interesting exercise to walk around your yard during a heavy downpour and watch where the rain goes. Generally we see that areas that are mulched and planted with perennials and shrubs are able to infiltrate the rain whereas lawns let most of the water run off. I do the bacterial monitoring for Operation Clearwater and I have seen over the years how land use affects water quality after heavy rains. A great positive example is the community of Sherwood Forest. Even though there is a fairly steep slope from homes to the water, there is rarely an increase in fecal bacteria even after heavy rains. There are virtually no lawns in this community except for some community fields far from the water. For those of us who really want the green lawn, we could suggest planting a border garden that would allow rain water to infiltrate before the rain runs off into the street and then into strom drains.

Sorry, you need a www in front of rainscaping. http://www.rainscaping.org

Hello,
Just wanted to chime in here. I live in a town home in Crofton and decided this year to do away with the "Lawn" I now have a front and backyard with a base of pea gravel, marble chips a few stepping stones and some native plants. Of course there was about 2 weeks worth of planning regarding design but I have to say now that it is complete it is very low maintenance and has a tropical feel. I love it....probably a good thing. :-) My point here fear not the grass-less yard. Happy Summer All!

I love the idea of no grass lawns and a cleaner bay! I doubt it will go over with the McMansions along the Chesapeake, but I support any actions in that direction. I hate to see the properties along the waterways with little flags in the lawn indicating they have been treated with chemicals -- so close to where our kids are swimming!

Changing our mindset is not difficult if we were to collectively agree on the need. I understand that the Sherwood Forest community near Annapolis has moved in this direction and is already showing results by lowering the bacteria rate in the surrounding part of the bay. I am looking for photos of that.

This will help http://www.lawnreform.org/ to develop ideas of how property can look and help. We don't really need to irradicate grass as long as the run off from grass is contained and does not reach the bay.

I believe that much was learned from the Sherwood Forest experience. Perhaps someone knowing it better than me can relate the details.

Montgomery County has their own Sherwood Forest area as well as an ongoing plan and they don't border the bay. They are in the Chesapeake Bay Watershed thus their work is important too.
Here are some examples of their successes: http://www6.montgomerycountymd.gov/content/dep/downloads/rainscapes/rainscapestour2012.pdf