In An Octopus' Garden In The Shade

For the longest time I've been wanting to do something...anything...with my backyard. In effect, I've got three long & thin rectangles of nothing but grass. This makes mowing quite a chore...one in which I'd gladly get rid of if I could figure out what I'd want to do with all that space & make it look nifty. So, the deal is that I think I'd like to do something like this. Create some shade, too.

But here's what I'm thinking...







All photographs can be found here at Frantisek Staud's Zen Garden Photos. His pics are pretty good so you might want to take a look!

Anyway, what do you think about my backyard idea?