Replacing grass lawns with native plants
I have kids who like to play in our yard.  All sorts of sports and running around.  For that type of activity, grass is ideal.<p>In contrast, a yard full of native plants sounds nice ... but you can't really <i>do</i> anything in it.  It becomes ornamental rather than functional.  I can't play a game a baseball if my entire yard is ferns and flowers rather than grass.<p>That said, in garden beds and places where plants and trees do make sense, installing native species is a no-brainer.  We're in the process of getting rid of a bunch of non-native shrubs and plants and replacing them with native.<p>And in that case, we're making a transition from ornamental to functional.  Previously, the trees and shrubs looked nice, but the birds and bugs didn't particularly care for them.  Now, the birds are eating the berries, the butterflies and bees are loving the flowering plants, and we spend less time on maintenance.