Where are you? Zone and nearest city. Concrete is never a good look IMO. I'd plant it up, if I didn't want to sit in that area. Given the palm trees, you should be able to have flowers almost every month of the year.

@sigrid we are zone 10a - 92653. I'd like to make it usable space for sitting, lounging, eating or for the kids to play. At the same time I don't want it to look sterile. Maybe (apart from the planter areas) we can just fill it in with DG and a gravel top layer and compact it down

Please plant the areas out! I nearly cried when I read the word concrete! Concrete will retain heat, but planting wisely will create an oasis. I will admit to not being a gardener, so suggest cultivating the trees to encourage foliage and growth. You could create a lovely seated area underneath with the flagstones spaced to have grass between and a spaced walkway to it. The second raised area, again plant out. A hardy climber on the walls to reduce heat retention? Alternatively swap the seating area to the second raised area, backed with climber on the walls, and plant out the far end… or….

Kids?

Absolutely yes to a vegetable garden and for the rest get as much soft stuff under foot as you can. Is grassy something totally out of the question? Something to lay down on?

Then I would put in more than one umbrella and at least one hammock and some other fun seating -- even the huge molded plastic pieces that have LEDs inside.

I would just make a delightful Luna Park

or

You can plant succulents instead tropical shrubs.

I am currently in an area enduring unprecedented, and increasingly common, record heat. Trees and greenery are a lifesaver, literally. Concrete would be deadly. You need as much shade and green foliage as you can get, and, unless you are in a dry climate under water pressure, I'd keep succulents and cacti to a minimum especially since you have kids.

Have you considered artificial turf?

If you want the trees to live do not pour concrete it is one of the reasons I like deck it still allows the rain to get to the trees. You could as mentioned do fake grass ,we actually put it on our deck it has drain holes every 5 " and looks awesome and so much easier than redoing the deck surface every year it seemed . So many choices besides concrete . We live in Canada but our summers are hot so high 30-40 c.

Before you do anything I would hire a landscape designer ( not architect, not needed here ) to draw up a plan. I’m sure he /she will work with the trees, don’t remove them. Concrete, contrary to some of the comments, can be very attractive if done right. Not an entire yard of concrete of course, but judiciously used & depending on the design it can be practical. i have poured in place concrete pads with river rock between, a modern, waterwise look.

There is a small patch of fake grass where I am currently staying. It is too hot to walk on in bare feet at the moment. No better than concrete.

No idea why Houzz has changed my name. I'm on my phone for the first time. Usually I use my iPad or laptop.

Thanks all. In the other areas of the yard, we are planning to plant California natives along with some hardscaping (DG/Gravel/Flagstone). The backyard area I was planning to have a good sized concrete pad poured but specifically so that I could build a shed on it and also build a covered BBQ shack for grilling/smoking. The front here I was envisioning as more of an extended area where I could setup a picnic table or at least another table to eat and lounge at.

I am hesitant towards artificial turf since I can't and won't be doing that for the rest of the yard (that was part of the turf rebate program conditions though but I feel it would be a little odd to have a small patch of it in this area and nowhere else). Good to know that it can get pretty hot. If I were to do ground cover, I'd go with Kurapia/Phyla Nodiflora or UC Verde Buffalograss.

I may consider the smaller concrete pads that have DG/rock/grass between them though perhaps as a path? Decking sounds interesting but I think we were a bit traumatized at our last place due to rats nesting under one of the decks hahaha.

I‘m in LA (about 6 miles to nearest beach so we probably have similar climate) and we did a combination of concrete, grass, planters and stones a couple of years ago. We love it. Even though I have a teenager, him and his friends have fun all over our backyard. As you just wrote, I would first focus on what functionality you want in each area and then the type of material you could use in those areas. IMO, to get a ”warmer” feel to any backyard you need plants and/or trees. We thought about DG, but went with stones instead. We used artificial turf in front of house only. We are having a small get together later today. I will try and take some photos and then post.

@rureadyinla - thanks! It would be great to see some pictures. Yea, I wasn't sure about making the *entire* thing concrete and probably won't don't even 2/3rds of it that way. But I may still keep that raised area concrete. I'm still undecided as a whole as we need to get the other part of the yard finished first but definitely lots of good ideas here.

Latest post is spam advertising a UK based office plants rental business. Entirely irrelevant to the OPs question. I have flagged it.

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