I think one of the key pieces of information here is that you don't live here yet and so might not be entirely certain how you're going to use the space. You might surprise yourself and find that you need a spot to put a chair to admire your work in the garden, for instance. It looks to me too as if the patio attached to the house gets a fair bit of shade. This is no doubt welcome in the summer, and is where you'll spend your time. But in early spring and late fall, perhaps that slab is where the first and last bit of sun finds your garden as it changes its angle in the sky, and you'll want to sit there for morning coffee. Or maybe not! Point is, wait and see. People go to huge expense to put in hard surfaces for sitting, container gardening, storage, and so on. I wouldn't remove one without trying out several ways of using it first, including your option of a flower bed, though I'd put a flower bed almost anywhere else in that yard first. You could make it look a darn sight nicer with a pattern and concrete stain; see if you can find some old postings here by Punamytsike on that subject. It might eventually strike you as a great spot to build a pergola and grow grapes or flowering vines. It could seriously enhance the view you have of your yard from your patio or your house. I think if it were mine I would buy a patio umbrella and stand, and stick it out there for your first summer. Maybe a cheap resin chair as well, and a couple of big plastic planters. And see what happens. Watch how the light and shade move across the space. See what "stuff" you end up having to deal with while living in this house and what you need space for. Then you will know how best to spend larger amounts on removal, furnishing, decorating, building, or planting it up.

Just priced this cheapest price was $8/sqft+ $250 for stamped and colored which is very cheap of up to 380sqft above 380sqft is 6/sqft. It is usually around 12/sqft stamped and colored here but I used to work for a major co and we used them before so I was aware of his price and quality. Near Charlotte NC. just plain old driveway concrete is $3/sq ft from the same co. Check psi and thickness when you get quotes so you know it's apples to apples.

annz, thanks so much for the links! Very helpful. I have googled quite a bit but this particular site never came up in searches, must have used different keywords. I'm actually ok with not having the concrete colored off the bat...too scared to be stuck with a color I'm not wild about and I know that happens sometimes. I might stick with plain or experiment with small pieces I'll ask him to pour in a box for me that I can try staining. The broom finish is for non slippage......I love the look of sleek smooth concrete, but it can get too slippery for me. We are always using the patio. Luckily, he's pretty subtle with it, has done work for us before. The grooves are not very deep. Is there another way to finish it that would be smoother but non slip? Adding some sort of granular stuff or exposed aggregate would do it, but we don't really want those either. Anyway, thanks for the help, I really appreciate it!

We did something similar. We didn't lay tile, and although the patio was your typical small one that comes with most houses, we wanted a much larger area attached to it. There was also a sidewalk we had to incorporate into the design. No concrete matched any concrete due to stains and age differences. We hired someone to pour a new concrete patio next to the existing sidewalk and old patio. Then someone else came and painted all the concrete light gray, laid strips of tape to form stones, used 3 colors of stain, lifted the tape, sealed it all, and it is gorgeous! One big flat patio! Our job totaled $10,000 here in Southern California. Here is the ugly stained patio and the sidewalkHere it is after the work And here is the long view of the entire thing: