By Sharon Cohoon, Sunset senior garden writer

Susan Harris has a veritable treatise on losing your lawn on her website.  It includes reasons why you should get rid of or at least reduce your lawn, including Michael Pollan's excellent Case Against Lawns; ways to kill it off; and plenty of examples of what to do next, including one of my favorite examples from Sunset Magazine, shown below.

The garden belongs to Rick Cole, the city manager of Ventura, California, and it was designed and installed by Michelle and Jeremy Walker of Blooming Gardens.  Here's more about it.

I also loved the contemporary garden designed by Northern California designer Michelle Derviss, shown below.  It's 180 degrees different but equally stunning.

For more photos of this garden.

And, if you're still not convinced to give up your lawn, Harris has some tips on how to grow it organically.