How can I fix my ugly backyard?
I’m wondering if anyone has any suggestions for solutions to beautify my hideous backyard. I’m located in the Los Angeles area (zone 9). My biggest issue is the view to the rear of the yard, which has a second story garage, the brick fence backing up to our yard, and the electrical pole (ugly trifecta). The brick is some kind of outdoor covered structure, which has a fireplace and brick and lattice walls. The problem is that it is falling apart (the bricks, the wood, and roof which has disintegrating blue tarp that they replace each season). Obviously to fix that would be a huge expense, which I can’t ask of my neighbors and am not willing to cover 100%.
We will be getting rid of the play structure, but want to keep the orange tree. Our goals are to cover the eyesore in the back, make the backyard more beautiful, keep a large area of grass for our child, and maybe have a covered deck/pergola or some area to sit that can be shaded. We have a gardener that comes twice a month, but would still like it to be lower maintenance. The brick wall in the back is about 45 feet long and 10 feet high. The other side of the yard is about 42 feet long. The brick wall is west and the play structure is south.
Our gardener suggested planting a line of Podocarpus along the rear along the brick fence, about two feet from the wall so he can go behind it to trim it. The dirt space between the grass and the wall is about 5 feet. I was also thinking maybe we could build a small deck/pergola over and extending beyond the small portion of the garage roof that sticks above ground.
I know we should consult with a landscape architect, which we will do when the some of the challenges relating to the pandemic ease, but I wanted to see if anyone here might have any ideas, because I’ve seen some amazing ideas on this board. We have an initial budget max 10k, and anything more than that would probably need to be done in stages, which we would be ok with. Thank you all for your help.
Comments (18)
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3 years agoI don't think some vines or shrubbery is going to be enough to cover your neighbor eye sore. I would do a nice horizontal fence to cover that up. Then, you can plant whatever you want, but first get a nice backdrop. Something similar to this:
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