I have a ground cover area in my backyard where snow in summer has taken off and the flax has spread proliferously. However, if you look closely, you can see small patches of blue star creeper with its dainty, little, baby blue blossoms and the stunning green of the green carpet.
Again, the groundcover has some growing up to do, but it will be a great floor for the outdoor living space that will eventually go there.
Usually, perennials and shrubs take about three years to mature, start filling in and begin to look good. This is year three for my flower beds.
I did use the informal flower bed design philosophy to design my flower bed, but I also went with a sort of monochromatic planting scheme for three different areas–red in the southeast, yellow and orange in the southwest, and purple in the west. I mixed in colors from the other planting schemes into each area to add interest, but for the most part, monochromatic is the pattern.
As you can see, there is still some growing up to do, but for the first time, I am not ashamed of the pictures of my yard. So enjoy the beginnings of my Outdoor Living Spaces and let me know what you think!
The pergola construction is complete, and I have posted the completion pictures of the Allen Residence Outdoor Dining Room for viewing. To the right here is a picture of the installation of the pergola.
I want to thank 
for the pergola manufacturing and installation. I am very pleased with the construction and so are the Allens.
The Allen Residence Outdoor Living Space is now finished, with the exception of mosquito netting on the pergola. But, the mosquito nets will not alter the look of the area that much, so I have taken pictures and have posted them here below of the completed Outdoor Dining Room.
Also, the flower beds were designed using the philosophy discussed in the Artisan Landscape Outdoor Living Podcast Episode 3. Since the perennial flower bed is new, it is not really impressive yet, and I would expect about 3 years of growth before the plants really fill in and start to look nice.
The one thing that I would add to the space to make it even more complete and comfortable is accessories. I discussed that in a previous post. Enjoy and please let me know what you think about this Outdoor Living Space.
I am still working on getting that Itunes enhanced podcast posted here to be downloaded. In the meantime, enjoy these pictures of some of the work from Temple Square that illustrates the techniques covered in the Artisan LOL podcast episode 3. These pictures are an example of what your Outdoor Living Space could look like if you implemented this design philosophy.
Front Yard Flower Bed
Flag Installed in Front Flower Bed
for the install. They did a great job. They were clean and easy to work with, and they were very flexible with their scheduling and helped us to keep working toward our deadline by being flexible.
Lynn Woodward Electric. They were quick, clean and very reasonably priced.
Allen Sitting Wall Foundation
We installed plants today and things should be pretty much wrapped up on Monday when the pergola is installed. The only thing we will have left will be the retractable shades that are going on the structure. Four days ahead of schedule!
Below is the landscape design for the Allen Residence Outdoor Dining Room in Hooper, Utah. The Allens will get a lot of use out of this outdoor living space. The flooring is a tumbled Belgard paver and the walls and ceiling are a white vinyl pergola. We included plenty of space around the room for a fire pit and for dutch ovens and a barbecue. We also ran electrical to the South of the space for them to plug in a small water feature they purchased.
I also designed a flower bed for them in the front yard complete with a fifteen foot flag pole.
