If you were to stand looking at the walkout door, to your left, 500 feet away is a street. there is nothing but field, so some screening would be required. Behind you, headed south, is the property line, about 200 feet, then another 80 feet to a neighbor's house, again, no trees, just field. To your right, 250 feet away is a horse fence, no screening required. For the firepit area I was thinking an "up north" type feel, white pines, ferns, pine needle mulch with some screening between the patio and the pit. Right now the firepit area is about 2 feet higher then the patio. I am going tohave a bulldozer take that down some as I wantthe path from the main patio to the pit to contain no steps, just a slope The patio area would be standard, a grill, table, chairs for the sun, maybe a hot tub later. I have a huge deer problem, anything they can eat is gone quickly. Before I start laying any pavers (lots of excavation to do), I was wondering about size/shape of the patio, any suggestions/ideas? As for the boulders, I took a few down, looks like they are dry stacked, with landscape fabric behind them, and then compacted sand. The short wall in the front looks like just dry stacked with fabric, then soil behind.

Perhaps something in Malpighiaceae . Here is a link that might be useful: Malpighiaceae

Wow, every one of those flowers is beautiful! I am going to pay more attention and see if I can eventually be surprised with a bloom. (Tally, I've done the ignore thing, including full sun and NOT watering, and this is how the plant looks after at least four years - lucky to be alive. I took "ignore" to a new level!) -Carol

June, thanks for the reply. Someone in the Cactus and Succulents Forum told me it is an orchid cactus. The hybrids of those are called Epiphyllum hybrids, so you are right on target. Google Images shows that is indeed, the correct plant. Here is a link that might be useful: Google Images - orchid cactus