I've been going up and down and up and down just taking in all your lovely flowers. The garden shots are great, since there is so much green in addition to the flower colors. Those of us in the no-rain zones are pretty tired of burned out brown. I do love all of them but I'll just mention Dancing With Sandra, Late Round, and Pinhill Claret Symphony. Hope there are still more late bloomers to come. I'll be watching. Avedon

1. Glad you don't want grass in your city lot. Agreed, it is a mosquito magnet, and mosquitos are getting worse and worse because of the warm winters we have been having. 2. I really like your bricks and would not pave over them. You just need a good vision that will tie together a new fence, the bricks and your three large sides of beds. 3. Regarding your bilco doors to the basement, it brings up a question about the whole back of your house. There is a lot of mismatched after though happening. You need to think about the new awning and how you will repair the wall that is the base of your porch. Once the back of your house has more of a "look" to it, you can paint your bilco doors to become part of that scheme. Obviously the setting of the houses below are quite different than yours but they both match the doors to the look of the house and they have planting nearby. Perhaps you want to flank the left side of your basement doors with a planter so there is greenery on one side and steps on the other. I'm obsessed with city back yards and find lots of inspiration just doing a google image search for "Brooklyn backyard ideas". Good luck. It is a wonderful space.

Some thoughts on two projects: One: What is the most practical path from the point of origin at the house to get to your dock -- the path you now use ? Would that path begin at the corner of the house closest to the yard toys -- either a straight or curved path -- until you get to the toys and then from the toys beyond them to the dock? That walk path is where you should begin to create dirt steps about 4'-6' wide by using railroad ties strategically placed across the path as temporary small retaining walls to create level or gently sloping "steps" between the rail road ties -- digging to throw dirt above or below the railroad ties as needed. As you walk, you might take two or three steps on each dirt step you create. As you use the dirt steps you can see what steps work best and what steps need to be adjusted before you invest in blocks or stone for more permanent retaining walls for your grass covered dirt steps). Two: you might consider putting a retaining wall all along the lower point of the yard where you usually cease to mow -- below the hill. Literally dig a deep ditch for a footing/foundation along that line above which you cannot safely mow. You could then put rebar in place and have concrete poured into the ditch (BEFORE before you remove the dirt from below the ditch/concrete wall so the sides of the ditch can serve as a form for your retaining wall) -- before you throw any that dirt from below the ditch to above it. Once your poured concrete has set up, you can add a bock wall atop it, then begin to remove the dirt from below the concrete retaining wall to above the concrete retaining wall, adding other layers of concrete blocks to the wall as you are able to reach it from either above or below until you've achieved a reasonably level area both above and below the wall. You could then face the poured concrete with stone or brick if you choose.. DO make sure the bottom of the ditch you dig is lower that the ground level you want for the lower flatter area below the poured concrete retaining wall.. A ditch dug with a back hoe or other equipment will be wider that what you might dig by hand and take more concrete to fill but with the wider concrete wall you're pouring, you're building strength into your retaining wall. Do post some after pics to show us what you've done.

Everything looks so nice and well cared for, good use of color. I love the color of Miss Molly butterfly bush. Do you keep it outside in the container in your zone or do you have to pull it inside a garage or whatnot?