Graham works 12-hour days throughout the summer at his hockey academy and wanted a place to relax in the few hours he has free each night.

“I think a lot of it was my girlfriend and I, we just needed more space,” Graham said. “We both like the outdoors.”

A place to cook on the grill and listen to a water feature sounded heavenly, and they gave Lerdahl and his company, Priority Landscape Construction, free rein. Let’s make it awesome and see what it takes, Graham told Lerdahl.

“It turned out unbelievable,” Graham said. ”We didn’t want a hot tub or a pool. We just wanted usable space to relax with family. And some shade. Our house faces south. You get that heat.”

The backyard renovation, which took less than two months to finish, is on the Professional Remodeling Organization of Nebraska-Iowa Remodeled Home Tour that ends today. Go to proremodelingomaha.org/home-tour for more information.

Lerdahl said they regraded the yard and poured about 1,000 square feet of stamped concrete. They built a pavilion with an outdoor fireplace and added an audio system, an outdoor cooking space and installed a bubbling stone water feature.

A pergola and 13 trees will take care of the shade issues. Staircases help with the transition between the patio and the house and the patio and yard.

“We finished it off with a bunch of pretty flowers and outdoor lighting, so the whole space can be very functional at night and look very pretty,” Lerdahl said.

The biggest challenges were enhancing the view from a large picture window that overlooks the backyard and not making the kids traverse a maze of structures to reach the grassy area where they can play.

It’s not often, Lerdahl said, that they are able to add so many features to one project.

“I’m really excited about how it turned out,” he said. “It really works well and fits the backyard well. It’s quite the amazing spot. Anybody would be thrilled to spend time in an area like this.”

The Nebraska Statewide Arboretum will host the 2024 Spring Affair plant sale Thursday through Saturday at the Sandhills Global Event Center in Lincoln (formerly the Lancaster Event Center).

Spring Affair is the Great Plains’ largest plant sale, attracting nearly 4,000 visitors and featuring more than 800 varieties of perennials, annuals, herbs, trees and shrubs, in addition to gardening vendors and educational non-profits.

Tickets are still available for the preview sale, which will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. on Thursday. Tickets are $20 for NSA members and $25 for non-members and can be purchased online at plantnebraska.org/spring-affair or at the door the evening of the sale.

All proceeds from ticket sales support NSA’s statewide tree planting, garden making and educational outreach efforts throughout the year.

Free general admission to Spring Affair will be held Friday from 2 to 6 p.m. and Saturday from 9 a.m. to noon.

Omaha’s Kimpton Cottonwood Hotel — birthplace of the Rueben sandwich and butter-brickle ice cream — has added another item to its list of amenities: personal plants.

The Cottonwood, 302 S. 36th St., has long invited guests to bring their furry friends on stays and now it is adding adoptable plants, according to a release. If you’re having a bad day, a cuddle with Fido can cheer you up in an instant. But a philodendron or a peace lily can positively affect your mood, too, by alleviating stress and reducing anxiety.

Guests can adopt a live plant companion for their room. Each comes with a name and biography — plus, guests get a package of seeds so they can grow a companion plant of their own once they return home.

“We’re going all-in on healthy living in 2024,” general manager Dayna Baker said in the release.