But if Marcy Damon, Grassroots Restoration Coordinator at the Chesapeake Bay Foundation had her way, everyone would live by her adopted motto: "Plant more trees, grow less lawn."

It's not that people don't like walking barefoot or frolicking with pets or children in the grass. It's taken years of study about habitats to know a large expanse of grass doesn't offer the same environmental benefits as other plants.

To cut back on grass, consider using shrubs as a property line marker instead of a fence.

Ms. Damon says inkberry is a bush that grows in shade or sun and tolerates dry or moist soil. This is helpful if your yard is not dominated by shade or sun. It offers white flowers with yellow centers and berries that turn inky black.

Native azaleas - which tend to be deciduous and offer flowers and fragrance - are good choices and readily available at nurseries.

For a difficult area such as two sloping areas that meet in a shady, damp and mossy swale, consider leaving the moss that may have accumulated there and add Christmas or cinnamon fern for texture and interest. Both are native plants and moisture lovers.

"Moss is wonderful; you don't have to mow it and it absorbs moisture readily," says Ms. Damon.

Violets can be used as a ground cover. They have a lovely purple flower in the spring and then the foliage serves as low lying green.

"Violets actually are really an important plant for (a certain) butterfly that requires it for nectar. They come up in spring and stay through late fall," advises Ms. Damon.

Phlox, another ground cover, also offers a lavender flower in a low growing, spreading cover which is great for borders, rock gardens and along fences.

Another good choice is wild ginger which is a shade plant that likes moisture.

Allegheny spurge, Pachysandra procumbens, a variety of native pachysandra, has a wider leaf than the more common Japanese variety and the leaves change to a shade of pale rust in the fall. It's slow growing and dense.

Then there is periwinkle, or vinca minor, a low growing, fairly dense plant with small leaves and purple flowers in spring.

Experts have a love/hate relationship with it, sometimes recommending it and sometimes advising gardeners to keep it away.

Periwinkle does need to be controlled. Ms. Damon isn't aware of any specific harm periwinkle can cause to trees, but it does compete with the roots of the tree for water and nutrients.

Maryclaire Walker, a retail manager with Greenstreet Gardens in Lothian thinks periwinkle has a nice look to it, with the small blue flowers and low, small foliage.

"It's tough to get it started but once it's started it's very nice," she says. She thinks establishment is difficult because of our dry, hot summers, but once it's established in an area, it needs little care and does very well as a ground cover. It grows happily in sun or part shade.

It really isn't necessary to add any plants at the base of a tree.

As Ms. Damon points out, "in the woods, there's not usually anything growing under a tree. There are fallen leaves or pine needles - it makes it's own mulch."

As for English ivy, a nonnative and invasive plant, Ms. Damon says "there is no excuse for planting English ivy. People let it grow up trees" thinking it looks pretty, but that's bad for the tree. It's also known to carry a certain pathogen . . . that can actually kill the tree, robbing it of moisture and nutrients."

Ms. Damon says English ivy is destroying habitat in parks and there's just no reason to plant it when so many more acceptable plants are available.

To kill English ivy without killing a nearby tree, mow it as short as possible, keeping away from tree roots. Then take a trowel or hoe and pull the runners up and away from the tree. Keep watching - it may take a couple of months to get all of it. Ms. Damon suggests pouring full strength vinegar on it.

Be very carefull digging around those roots because you want to save the tree. Having large trees with large canopies and large root systems is very good for the bay, adds Ms. Damon.

Ms. Walker favors ajuga as a ground cover. It is low growing, comes in colors ranging from burgundy to a shade of pink with green leaves. It gets a spiked blue flower in late spring and is fairly fast growing.

It's not suitable for mowing since it has an elongated leaf that would look chopped up if mowed. It usually grows tightly, like a matt and is good in the sun or shade.

To use it as a border between a lawn and flower bed, dig a slight trench between the two or use edging material such as stone or plastic to keep it from spreading.

For hillsides and sunny, sloping areas try juniper, a low growing, rather flat evergreen that comes in shades of blue, green and even gold. Each plant spreads 4 to 6 feet wide, depending on the variety and it likes partial shade to sun, but not dense shade.

Cotoneaster, pronounced ca-TONY-aster, is a low growing shrub, some with burgundy and green leaves, which is evergreen to semi-green, which means it will drop some of its leaves. The leaf is flat, about 1 to 11/2 inches long and produces inconspicuous tiny white flowers in spring and then red berries that birds like. The berries are also tiny and not messy. Ms. Walker says it's a kind of wiry looking plant that looks especially nice in a rock garden.

Another nice shrub is burning bush, euonymous alatus. It is green but turns bright red in the fall. Keep it trimmed for a low growing border or let it grow to a certain height as a hedge. It likes full sun and doesn't mind dryer conditions and doesn't seem too picky about soil.

If you have a yard that is a combination of sun, shade and part shade, Ms. Walker suggests making long mounds or berms to plant evergreens, perennials and annuals providing color from spring through early fall.

Mints are great for the greenery and the lovely fragrance, but they tend to take over. Plant some in a pot to keep it contained since it grows so thickly and can choke other plants.

If you do have lawn, don't just go out and start fertilizing because spring has sprung. Fall is actually the best time to fertilize a lawn. Ms. Damon recommends that you get the soil tested to see if it even needs fertilizer first and if so, use organic fertilizer to protect the bay and other waterways from damage.

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For more information, visit the Chesapeake Bay Foundation at www.cbf.org/landscaping.

Contact Greenstreet Gardens at 410-867-9500 or visit www.greenwstreetgardens.com.