There’s something about the first day over 50 degrees in the Midwest that makes any person who’s survived the winter feel like a whole new person. What I didn’t realize is that feeling is on steroids when you have your own yard. We purchased and moved into our home in the dead of Chicago winter, so every day that something new bloomed or came back alive was like Christmas morning (7 year-old Gabi would not be stoked we’re comparing Polly Pockets to Petunias).

Once we established what had survived the winter, it was time to think about how this small yard would work. On our lot of 0.1 acre, 90% of the lot is house, so anything we did had to be intentional. We also wanted to maximize any space we could for our dogs to run and play safely. Having a Labrador means we also have to deter our canine cow from feasting on our plants or mulch, so the first step was to fill in the flower bed. I wanted a mix of colors, textures, heights, and growth stages so the bed would always attract some interest.

I landed on Hydrangeas, Azaleas, Dahlias, Rhododendron, Lavender, Reed grass, Carnations, and a mix of ground cover. When edging the bed, I decided to extend the yard a bit, squeezing in a few more inches of grass for the dogs. What I imagined to be one quick trip to Home Depot ended up being 3, you will always need more plants than you think! Thankfully, the previous owners had done some legwork with the bigger shrubs and trees, so I just had to fill in the gaps.

With plants in the ground, it was time to get into the more daunting task of moving flagstone. When I said 90% of our lot was house, the remaining 10% might as well have been flagstone. While I could’ve certainly built a small structure, I opted to offload a majority of the stone (shoutout to my neighbors) and move towards a design that would keep our shoes and paws clean when trekking in and out of the yard for our walks.

I imagined the hardest part of this pathway to be laying the 50 lb. stones, but it ended up being the task of digging the trench. It was a seemingly thankless job and it wasn’t any of the fun part, it was simply a time-intensive mess that created a bigger mess. Once it was finally time to lay and tamp the crushed gravel, sand, arrange the stepping stones, and spread pea gravel, the process maybe took an hour. While I still watch with fear as the dogs run down the path and am haunted by a Reddit post about pea gravel being nature’s glitter, I will say it is a significant improvement!

Now to the part of the yard for which this post was named…the last portion of the fenced in yard that houses the AC unit and gas meter. Since the plan is to add a fence separating the front and back yards, I wanted to create a visually interesting but also easy to maintain space. For most of the year, the area gets inconsistent sunlight and, in a fun revelation, the foundation on that side of the house is prone to seepage. It was for those reasons, I decided to lean into inspiration from our honeymoon to Mallorca, Spain, and even more specifically the olive groves of Son Moragues, an over 500-year old estate we toured. I’m talking terracotta pots, pea gravel garden, lavender, and olive trees. Unfortunately, the Chicago winters mean my hopes of growing a thriving olive tree are slim, so I ended up going with a Dappled Willow instead. I also wasn’t ready to commit to authentic aged pots, so dupes from Target it is! The final piece to the puzzle was a truckload of pea gravel, a wheelbarrow, and a shovel. I will happily call that my workout for the day!