OK - so I took a bunch of photos - hope they help. We have a large paver patio with a nice cover over it attached to the house.
The directions will be as if you are standing with the house to your back and you are looking out onto the backyard.
A pond with waterfall is to your right. Behind the "dirt" is a rock retaining wall. On the right, it is bilevel - the bottom level is where I have my vegetable garden. The next level up I have grape vine and berries. In the middle of the wall is a stair that I don't want to obstruct from seeing. The wall on the left has one level - I have a butterfly bush and honeysuckle.
The areas I want to fix up is the big area in the middle. There were 2 areas for lawn that is outlined by concrete curbing - one on the left & one on the right. We no longer want grass. The curbing can be taken up if necessary. We have a sprinkler system in each area of curbing.
To the far left behind the shed, we want to put our above ground pool.
I would like drought and sun tolerant plants with color. The plants have to tolerate below freezing temperatures (we get days in the winter that do not go above freezing) and snow. We have a very dry climate. Our "soil" is extremely alkaline.
Some plants I like are rock/desert plants, grasses, roses, evergreens. I would like to have a few (3?) areas that are incorporated to plant annual flowers. We will be able to have a drip system placed. The back wall is approximately 100 ft long.
I like the idea of bringing in a few more large boulders perhaps.
