By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Margaret Fast is like a lot of us.  She worries about the planet and believes we all have the responsibility to do what we can to help it, including gardening sustainably.  Yet, despite not believing in it philosophically or being tied to it emotionally, the front yard of Fast's home in Riverside was still all lawn.  And there was a lot of it--4,400 square feet.  But Fast needed a little nudge to make the change she knew she should.

It came when she attended a garden club talk by landscape designer Nan Simonsen.  "The lawn has to go," insisted Simonsen. "Okay, let's do it," said Fast to Simonsen shortly thereafter.  And this is what the same space looks like today.

Fast loves the look of the space, the butterflies and bees the flowers are drawing in, and the satisfaction of having improved her little corner of the earth.  Her only regret is not making the move sooner.  Fast, you should know, is in her early 80s.  If she's still willing to invest in improving the planet, what are the rest of us waiting for?