Wow, thanks to each of you for sharing your thoughts - I feel like a kid on Christmas seeing so many responses! Before I start addressing all comments, I want to note the "secret garden" I forgot to mention in my original post. Right now it's just a heavily shaded area in the back corner (SE) of the yard enclosed by major overgrowth accessed by a gate from inside the dog pen. I'm not sure how shaded it would be if we were to seriously get after the privet/junk hedge jungle, but I thought I would mention it in case any of you have brilliant ideas for it as I think it could be a really special little area. No grass, some purple flowering ground cover, a scraggly old tree with a thick L shaped branch (would be a great climber). Now on to business. I'll start by topic, & try to answer any questions. The privet hedge: Frankly, it scares me. I've been pretending it doesn't exist for the past 2.5 years but it's time to start facing it. Ideally, I would love to replace it but it's just not in the budget so I suppose we will try to cut it back and clean it up (per Yardvaark & Whitecap2's instructions - lower cuts, full-on weed war). As unsightly as it is, it does provide invaluable privacy and effectively blocks out the houses behind us. Yes, our nice neighbor to the east just had the stretch between us heavily cut back but the weed eradication remains our problem to tackle - yikes... Possible future addition: This is really just a dream at this point but I want to avoid extensive or large planting in the area in case my dream does one day come true. The new wing would ideally extend south & a bit east as shown in blue in the pic below. I've probably made it a little over sized but that should give you an idea. Afternoon shade: The carport wing of the house does cast shade starting at about 2:00 or so in the summer. It takes a while to extend much further than the bed but eventually about 1/3 of the lawn becomes shaded. Yardvaark, I like the a/c screen & tree placement suggestions. And thank your for explaining the major down to minor (tall to short) planning method. Such a basic concept but one I'd never thought about before, with this being my first from-scratch landscaping project. I will definitely return with a plan for you all to review before starting any work. This forum is such an incredible resource & I am so grateful to each of you for sharing your knowledge! Whitecap2, the small covered porch (8'x18') is up against the house & steps down to the exposed patio. I have marked it in green in the pic below. I had no idea hedges were passe ("so 60's"); I think they can be quite lovely when not grotesquely overgrown like ours! Catkim, I adore the idea of a courtyard - so very charming. Beds along the hedge also sound very nice. And that link to the children's garden - how adorable! This would be a great time to start something like that as my little girl is now 16 months. Mad_gallica, the dog run does eat up almost all of the existing shade but I'm afraid most of that shade is created by the junk growing in the privet hedge. If we were to clean up the hedge, I don't know how much shade would remain in that area. Regardless, the pen & dog house have to go. Bahia, I'm ordering my own copy of the Southern Living Garden Book today. Thank you so much for the suggestion. I'm shocked my green thumbed mother & grandmother had not mentioned this book to me! Unfortunately, the sewer line is the original clay pipe. Depending on the type of design we settle on, it may be something we need to address before any landscaping begins. Whitecap2, yes; lots of high maintenance, sun-drenched, thirsty grass. We purchased the house from the elderly widow of the original owner/builder who we have discovered made many odd decisions. But that's another story entirely. Bahia, the carport does provide late afternoon shade, perhaps to about 1/3 of the back yard. As mentioned above, the turf is high maintenance. We have recently been working on the weeds more aggressively but the past 2 summers it required mowing every 5-7 days & lots of supplemental watering. I love the idea of adding another shaded terrace further out in the yard. I will definitely give this more thought. Catkim, thank you so much for your comments on pergola placement. I have toyed with the idea of a pretty vine covered pergola in the past but never would have thought to place it further out to cast the properly desired shade. Thank you for keeping me from making a big mistake! Whitecap2, visually I would prefer a patio over a deck in our situation. But I agree, anything would be more usable & less maintenance than our wide open grass field! You totally nailed my sentiment toward our current backyard: "It just seems to me regrettable that so large a space should be usable for such a short duration." We want to get outside & play! Bahia, I wish we did have sufficient summer rainfall but Memphis tends to get hot & dry, irrigation systems being a must have for any well landscaped yard. Regarding our outdoor habits, they are definitely evolving as our child grows. A year ago I probably would not have sought a space for midday/afternoon play but now it is a real priority. As this is our first child, I'm not sure what to expect in terms of future needs but everything you mentioned ("play equipment set, lawn area for ball games or running around, a secret garden or play house? Sited to be easily viewable/supervised by parents from indoors, etc.") sound like great ideas. Any additional advice for planing with a child in mind would be wonderful! Whitecap2, you are again right on. The lawn has not been overly happy even with all the attention we give it. I think the spots in the pictures are probably a result of the professional monthly spraying we started at the end of 2011. Yardvaark, I'm not sure how much more patio space we would want. I think it would definitely be a budgetary decision. The current patio is yucky pebble concrete & I wouldn't even know how to go about expanding it. I certainly wouldn't want any more of the pebble stuff. Would the whole thing have to be ripped up or could some kind of stone be laid on top and extended further out? I hope I touched on everything. Again, thank you so much for all your help. I can't tell you how much I appreciate it! Possible future addition (blue) & current covered patio (green):

Thanks for the input! I had no idea the pictures weren't right side up--they look it to me on the thread! Are you still seeing them sideways or upside down? This isn't really the main "hang out" since we usually congregate out by the garage. We have dogs so while we will be replacing the ugly fence, we won't be eliminating it all together. We put in an electric fence ourselves that does our two acres, but it's nice to have a fenced in area with three dogs as well. I like the idea of a patio, but I've never put one in and neither has hubby. Would be a bit of a learning curve and I'm not sure he wants to scrap the whole deck idea all together. I was hoping for a deck with some type of large egress--either a big wide stairwell or a way to have it with no railing stepping down to the flagstone path (we already have those stones) plus a side walkway over to a small flagstone patio by the red barn? Right next to the red barn gets shade in the afternoon--the rest of the deck wouldn't for a few years (tree had to be cut down that gave us some shade--I'll be planting a new maple soon). Location is upstate, NY, and I definitely don't want more painting or staining in my future! We removed the aluminum siding on the house a few years ago and had it painted last year. I hand painted 30+ spindles, top & bottom rail, and the deck of the porch. Plus I personally have painted all 3200 sf of the house myself inside! Ugh--no more!! Any other pics or ideas are welcome! Thanks again! Sarah from Albany, NY

Time flies....! I just noticed that my first post referred to the winter of 2012-2013 - of course, it should have said 2013-2014! It somehow seems longer ago that that! :-) I'm actually not too worried about the cost, although I'm sure it's going to feel outrageous! :-) I'll definitely leave it to the off-season - tree companies are busy like mad around here taking down dead ash trees! I'm sure none of them are too interested in a relatively small job like a pine when they can be making big bucks on taking down ash trees! It'd likely be a repeat of our experience with trying to get a quote to re-sod the lawn - either they never returned our call or quoted a very high price. Our neighbour with a garden center and design business says the industry is crazy-busy this year around here. I suspect it might be related in part to taking down all those ash trees - people suddenly have sunny spaces that need planting....! So, off-season appears to be the best bet for both service and cost! I went out this morning taking more pictures. The whole tree looks dead, and there's dead stuff in the neighbour's pine close by, but theirs still has live stuff at the top. and you can see that it's still pretty barren in the area under it after the 2013-2014 winter-kill: The white redbud just outside this area almost died this winter too. Only the top leafed out - very late! And after DH pruned out all the dead stuff, it's a pretty skimpy tree! Interestingly, from outside this area (e.g. from the lawn or house) you can't see how barren it is under the pines: This picture shows the barren area under the larger, surviving pines - picture taken with my back to the dead pine. In early spring 2014 there was snow-melt and rain that flooded most of this area for weeks - the ground was frozen so deep that the water could not drain away. I think that is what killed most of the things that died. And killed seeds too I think - I expected the Sweet Woodruff to return from seeds but it hasn't.... A similar view from July 11 2013 so you can see some of the stuff that was killed that winter: Like in the area around the dead pine, the winterkill under these pines is not obvious from the 'outside': The growing conditions under the pines are difficult - very dry shade with root competition from the trees. I hope some of the survivors of the 2013-2014 winter gradually spread back into the barren areas they used to occupy. The area where the dead pine is might offer new opportunities for other things but I think I'm going to have to wait until next year when the tree is gone to assess what that does to light and moisture before deciding on new things to try. I will probably leave a log or two from the dead tree to act as a 'nurse log' to help new plants get established there.

No, It comes back every year, to it makes me think its some kind of Disease.. The front is perfect as you who know me on here have seen in the past, Idk, its a Hot mess back there :/ I am going to Aerate my front lawn soon in a few weeks and then my back lawn after my front...one yr I did the back lawn and it looks decent that summer...so idk Thank you :)