Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde backyard

First, let me just say that our yard has a total Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde complex. Even though we are SO far from turning it into what we want it to be, I LOVE it in the summer:

In the winter/spring, though, it's horrendous. I'm not even going to show you a picture of it, it's so bad. 

Here are some previous posts I did on our yard overhaul...

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Sometime at the end of last summer, Mark started on this fence to divide up part of our yard.

Behind that fence is a bit more of our yard, but we wanted to fence it off for a few reasons. 

1) we have a barky dog and she loves to run from one side of the house to the other, so barricading this side helps a bit with that

2) this side of the house is a little weird and the grass doesn't quite grow, so keeping the dog off it will help

3) the previous owners have an odd compilation of plants on this side to start with, so we hope to put in some garden boxes and get something growing!

After doing some research, Mark and I settled on this image for our inspiration:

We went with a 4' fence and currently it's stained in some leftover honey stain that we had left over from our kitchen makeover.

Our plan as soon as it gets warm is to do some major flower bed work. We plan to revise the bed we have to the left of our backdoor and use some handed-down pavers (thanks dad!) to snake their way around our A/C unit, Motley's dog house, and then round out the hard corner where the fence hits the other property. Basically we want to give our yard some curves. Here's my super advanced drawing of what I'm thinking:

After going through this winter, I definitely want to plant some low-maintenance perennials that take the Texas heat and that will come back year after year. Here's what I'm thinking:

A crepe myrtle tree will give great height and color for the corner where the two fences meet. It's kind of a Texas classic!

I want to integrate a few pots throughout the flower bed and this lemongrass is a natural mosquito repellent, so I'm hoping it keeps away the bugs while adding more great height!

Nothing says Texas like galvanized metal. We aren't going SUPER rustic with our design but we do use one of these buckets for Motley's water. The one we've been using rusted through the bottom so we will make that a planter and get her a new one for the summer. These are kind of pricey so it's great that we can repurpose them!

I LOVE this Mexican feathergrass so it will serve as our low ground cover near the house. I'll add a few annuals and maybe some lavender in front of it.

We will need to add a few steps in the flower bed leading to the fence gate to get into the garden area, so I'm thinking these limestone pavers will fit the bill perfectly. 

The construction of the garden boxes is still TBD, but I love the brick detail around these!

I can't wait for the weather to turn - which in Texas, usually happens around now! However, we are getting a nasty week of cold weather so we are going to have to hold off awhile before we get started. Anyone else anxious for summer to get here?!