Alot depends on sun exposure.

You might fit Panicum virgatum 'Shenandoah' in that corner area. The patio edge will contain it.

Along the right, if that area is somewhat shaded, Japanese Forest Grass could serve as edger, of course depending on sun exposure.

As an alternative, along the fence, to the right, garden phlox would look pretty and blooms summer into early fall.The left side looks pretty tight.

Maybe liriope would be a good option there?

We have pretty much full sun throughout most of the day. Looking at the information I can find for these, it looks like the Japanese Forest Grass probably wouldn't be a good fit. Panicum virgatum and Liriope Muscari would probably work well though. We'll wait for some more suggestions but will definitely add these to our short list. Thanks for the suggestions.

Lovely area! Two grasses for the corner come to mind, Calamagrostis Eldorado or Red October. Either would contrast beautifully with the fence color and have an upright habit with a smaller footprint. On the wider side, there are many dwarf ornamentals that would fit. I'm currently trying out the new Miscanthus Little Miss which has gorgeous color. Already has some red/purple foliage. That alternated with something like Little Bunny would be stunning. The narrow side I would probably just plant with annuals, including tucking a few at the feet of the corner grass. I'm sure you're already aware that anything you plant will need regular irrigation d/t the heat reflected off the concrete. I envy you that patio!

Thanks for advice. Yes, I figured that anything we put in this area will likely require a lot of extra manual watering. We didn't really think about putting much in here when we built the house and put the pool in, so we didn't have the irrigation ran through this area. We could always add to it later, though we'll probably just water manually for the first year or two.

We may not do anything for a bit yet. I want to see what other types of suggestions we get and we want to look at some of our local nurseries as well. Also, I still have a long list of chores and projects, including finishing the steel edging, digging out the turf and putting in the trap rock, and sealing about 3,500 square feet of aggregate.

I'll add a couple of pictures of the whole back pool/patio area so that everyone can get an idea what we're working on.

Here's a few more pictures of our pool patio/backyard area, so you can get an idea of the whole space.

In a couple of the pictures, close to the pool equipment pad, you can some of the steel edging that is going in, bordering all the sidewalks, the pool patio, both sides of our 375 feet of fence, and the rear footprint of the house. We're coming off the edges of everything about 10 inches and back-filling with the blue trap rock from the last picture.

We're also putting some bushes and plants around the pool equipment pad, to shield it from view a little bit, at least from the house.

You can also see the lovely staging area piled with mulch and steel landscape edging. Come to think of it, maybe I should've waited and taken these pictures after I'd mowed!

Gorgeous! Will be even better with plants.

A lovely blank palette. Are you able to post any inspirational photos? It might help.

If you dont want to hand water, little bluestem is a low water option. Panicums prefer more moisture but as long as they are established they will hold up pretty well to some neglect. There is an ornamental blue grama variety, 'blonde ambition', that is shorter and rounder than the the more vertical little bluestem and switchgrass varieties. It is also a low water grass. 'Undaunted Ruby muhly' (Muhlenbergia reverchonii) is a zone 5 hardy muhly grass that is also classified as drought tolerant. I have no experience with it though, it may survive the winter here but I'm pretty sure our season is too short for it to bloom.

Little blue and blue grama will both probably survive just fine on your normal rainfall. They do great here in Denver with our paltry annual 15" of rain. Depending on where you are at, the panicums may as well.