Goodbye, yardwork; hello, coffee cup

By Lynn Underwood

Star Tribune (Minneapolis)

When Erika Benson and Mike Peterson bought their 1920s Tudor home, the backyard was mostly an English-style garden filled with roses, dahlias and other flowers that required time-consuming care.

"They were beautiful -- but not for our lifestyle," says Benson.

The couple wanted an all-season landscape instead, with low-maintenance grasses, perennials, shrubs and evergreens. "We liked the soothing and calming feel of evergreens," says Benson, "and they have winter interest."

The couple also wanted to create a more attractive and welcoming backyard with seating and a grilling area. When they bought this Minneapolis home, the only space for sitting was a concrete slab right next to the house, one that absorbed heat and radiated a lot of it in summer.

A few months after moving in, the couple dug out the gardens and removed some messy crab-apple trees to create a blank slate. Then they called in landscape designer Daryl Melquist of the Minneapolis firm Landscaping by Bachman's.

Benson and Peterson had been considering a deck off the back door. But they realized a raised platform would give them less privacy.

Instead, Melquist designed a curvy 15- by 20-foot paver patio with two defined areas -- one for a dining table and chairs, the other for a sitting area or "coffee corner," splitting the functions with a walkway to the detached garage.

They mixed hand-cut cobblestone-style concrete pavers of different sizes and colors and used dark brown pavers to create a decorative border that accentuates the shape of the patio. "It creates a little more expense, because of the cutting time, but the look is well worth it," says landscape designer Daryl Melquist.

Read more from the original source:
Goodbye, yardwork; hello, coffee cup