Bistro patios
Click ahead to see how airy plants, a free-form floor, a circular firepit, and other details make this Tucson garden the ideal place for entertaining.
Portable shade
A polyethylene canopy (shadesails.com) soars above the dining table, providing cooling shade during hot months. It's fastened to the house and to steel poles beyond the patio's wall.
Circular firepit
A conversation circle around a gas firepit serves as a cozy retreat on cool evenings. The low wall ringing the firepit is painted yellow to match the dining patio's wall.
Curved wall
Painted a sunny Provençal yellow, the stucco wall adds warmth and a sense of enclosure to the dining patio. Its far end steps down to an Asian water bowl tucked between the palms.
Free-form floor
San Diego Buff concrete paving flows from the dining area toward the house and the firepit, visually connecting all three spaces. Its sinuous edges make the 23-foot-deep by 60-foot-wide backyard appear larger.
Airy plants
The delicate foliage of ornamental grasses in the foreground, and grasslike fortnight lilies (Dietes iridioides) between the two palms, doesn't overwhelm the small space.
Design: Jim Pollack Design. Installation: Roxanne C. Dobosz, Jumping Daisies.
