Landscaping for shady backyard with small children and a dog
Our backyard needs a fairly thorough makeover. Our drip irrigation is leaky and in need of repair. We have garden beds that we'd like to take out, and we'd like to put in a children's play structure. And apart from those two items, we'd like our backyard to just be a more pleasant space for play with our two toddlers and dog. It's a pretty shady space, too, which perhaps poses some challenges (grass does not thrive, for example). Any suggestions for a landscaper who can brainstorm with us?
May 1, 2017
Parent Replies
Try astroturf! We've had it in our backyard for several years and it is AMAZING! You get all the benefits of grass with zero maintenance. It is expensive to install, and you want to make sure that the installation is done well and drains right. We love it, it stays usable all winter, and even with all the rain outside this winter, we were able to go outside and play on the grass right after it stopped raining. Our "grass" used sand, not the rubber pellets, so super great for little ones to crawl around on.
Hi--We have a small, shady yard, and we loved the makeover that Tamar Carson Landscaping did! Tamar and her husband (who works with her) have had two toddlers and a dog, so I think they'd be great for your project--we found them really creative, very easy to communicate with, and reasonable cost-wise. They don't have a website, but you can get info about them on Yelp, and this is their phone number: 510-654-8242. Good luck!
Phone numbe(510) 654-8242
No landscaper suggestions, but some plant suggestions based on my own experience gardening in Berkeley: ferns of all kinds, calla lilies (they spread like crazy and thrive in shade), heucheras (so many lovely varieties), clematis, camellia, perenial ginger, hellebore, and Japanese maples. (Hostas are a classic shade plant as well but I didn't list them since in my experience they do really well in the Midwest but not so well here). After working with so many landscapers, over time I realized that plant selection is something I can do myself and save a lot of money and heartache, since I ultimately end up replacing the original plantings anyway. If you choose some of the large varieties of plants above and place them as anchors, and fill in with some of the smaller ones, you'll have a great start, and then you can move stuff around, divide plants, and remove/replace the ones that didn't do so well, as time goes by. You can also go to Berkeley Horticulture's shade section and just look at the plants and see which ones strike your fancy, but these plants are the ones I've had good luck with in this area. Berkeley Hort also has some ground cover that does well in shade that you could use instead of grass. Good luck.