About a week ago I had a vision of a better backyard and somehow or another Lisa agreed with me (mostly) so we have been working on redesigning our backyard. The redesign is pretty major and has already involved a lot of labor on my part.
For those of you unfamiliar with our backyard the main part is basically a big square patio covered with a pergola. The pergola is coated with wisteria, a creeping vine that blooms with long purple flowers. The eastern side of the backyard is flanked by the garage wall and the northern end is flanked by the house (the kitchen looks out upon the yard via this wall). The south and west walls are bordered by a six foot privacy fence. Currently, there is a Koi pond up against the garage wall. The pond is about 6'x4' and is surrounded by stones, flowers, and some small shrubbery. The wisteria grows up near the western fence and then covers the entire pergola which is about 15'x15' in size. The pergola covers almost the entire square of our yard except for a border that runs around the pergola and is about 5-6' deep.
To start the remodel the wisteria is being removed. Then the pond is being shifted to the southwest corner of the yard. The current pond location will be filled in and bricked over to match the rest of the patio nature of the backyard. Our current grill will then go where the pond was. Eventually, we hope to build an outdoor kitchen along that garage wall. We will then be draping small white lights (think small christmas tree lights) over the top of the pergola. We may also lash bamboo poles across the top to help provide some shade under the pergola. In the middle of the patio area we will be putting in an outdoor fireplace. We will also be decorating the pergola with suspended candles or lamps. Around the fireplace will be a variety of seating.
The rest of the "border" will remain as a flowerbed garden where Lisa will be able to continue her gardening. Overall we think the yard will be more usable, nicer looking, and much lower maintenance. Yesterday I managed to remove almost all of the wisteria (except for the root/stump). We are giving the main root/stump to a friend who wants to plant it in their yard. The heat has been fairly unbearable but I am going to try and remove at least one of the wisteria plants (we have two) tonight - if I'm lucky I will get them both out. Once the wisteria is out I can dig the new pond location - once that is done Lisa gets to be involved by catching the fish, and helping setup the pond how she wants it. Once the pond is setup we will consider how were going to handle the pergola (lights, cover, etc). We hope to have it finished no later than mid September. I should have taken a "before photo" but I will definitely post an "after".