Not much will grow well in that shade and near the cedar trees. You might do a patio for the adult behind the garage. Do you want a veggie garden?

When I think of modern gardens, I think of straight lines, squares, and black accents. You could build a play fort behind the garage if you need it to be in the shade.

Design av liten radhusträdgård · More Info

Planters · More Info

A Zen Garden in 225 sq ft · More Info

Outdoor Entertainment · More Info

LANCASTER RESIDENCE · More Info

Already this is giving me some direction. :) Thanks. The older I get the more I realize I need to have some parameters... otherwise too many choices tends to freeze me up.

Thank you very much. We have been doing a lot of work on our house's interior, it was in about the same shape as our backyard is currently. :) And for some reason outdoor spaces just stump me... but what you laid out makes sense and gives me some direction. There is a method to the madness. Sometimes it can just be hard to look past the ugly. :)

Any cedar is a no-no with kids...they are known to harbor ticks. Frankly, the cedars and pine trees don't add anything to your yard and they don't allow for a decent lawn. So, tree removal first.

Any plant or even bare dirt can have ticks, regardless. Instead of choosing plants by potential for having ticks, use a combination of habitat control, rodent control, and personal tick checks. Use bug spray on clothing, wear more clothes when ticks are more active and reduce openings such as tucking pants into socks, and get in the habit of doing quick tick checks every time you or the kids come inside as well as a really thorough tick check at bedtime, with particular attention to ears, belly buttons and other body folds and anywhere clothing is tight and including hair. I stand in front of a mirror and use feel as well as sight to check. It takes about 5 minutes. Put outdoor clothes immediately into the laundry and wash in hot water. You can set outdoor rodent traps or use something like Damminix tick tubes (if you don't have cats) to kill the ticks on rodents. Reduce any brushy areas. I live in an area with a lot of ticks, and sometimes remove as many as 15 a day, but I wear protective clothing and do tick checks without exception if I have stepped off the driveway and it is above freezing. I've never had an imbedded tick.

If you like the trees, keep them. If you don't, take out one or more. I find more ticks in dense brushy areas where there are more likely to be critters, but I have found them crawling towards me across bare soil as I was planting the veggie garden multiple times, so at least where I live, they are part of life and it's just a matter of finding them quickly and preventing them from latching on.

Ticks are not uniform in their habitat throughout the US.....and since we don't know where the OP lives, they may not be an issue at all. Also, they like to be low to the ground, rarely climbing above 18-24 inches, so agree with Babs that the brush, weeds and lawn are likely to be more of concern than the trees.

And healthy trees of any variety add a great deal to any property, especially one that is as devoid of other plantings as this. Before you decide to remove any, get a firm plan in mind about how you want to deal with your backyard and how the removal of the tree(s) may affect any shade provided, any needed privacy screening and how long it will take to replace in terms of size and presence.

I guess I'm the first to suggest getting a landscape designer[ it was bound to happen anyway] A plan lets you make decisions with confidence, you can follow the plan at your own speed and budget. I know what you mean about the outdoors, its a lot more complicated than interior design IMO, things have to grow, then grow to big, then they die. More variables. The trees are problematic in your backyard, they make it impossible for any additional plants to prosper.

"The trees are problematic in your backyard, they make it impossible for any additional plants to prosper."

Some of the folks that make these broad statements need to come visit the PNW :-) Big trees - usually conifers - are omnipresent in many/most gardens here. And believe it or not, people DO manage to have gardens as well!! It is just a matter of selecting what can thrive in close proximity to these trees, and aside from lawns, there is a whole lot of stuff :-)

And even if hiring a landscape designer - which I wholeheartedly support in most cases - one needs to have a firm idea in mind of how they want the garden to function and elements/activities they want to include.

some ideas

I would start with a new fence. Then get a landscape designer to get a plan organized it does not all have to happen in one year. The trees that are helthy should stay and the ones looking the worse for wear should go.There is nothing better than some shade from a tree in the heat of summer. Many plants like the shade but growing grass is a problem with big trees for sure.I find decking a good choice where there are large trees it gives you a nice entertaining space and then designate a space for the kids add a play house or play structure with recycled rubber mulch for that space , slowly eliminate the grass where it doesn’t want to grow. A nice gravelled area for a fire pit with seating.Could you post some pics of the house and yard from further back.