Backyard beach

AKRON, Ohio — Brian Knauer walks out his back door right onto the sparkling white sand of his private beach.

Only thing is, he’s a good 370 miles from the ocean.

And those palm trees rustling in the breeze? They’ll be outta there once the cold weather comes.

Knauer created a little patch of paradise in a most unlikely setting, a back yard edged by woods in rural Ravenna Township, Ohio. The beach stretches in the shadow of a Colorado spruce and a stand of shagbark hickories that have a nasty habit of littering the sand with their nuts. The only waves are the ones that get kicked up when someone splashes in the hot tub, and the tropical vibe is interrupted periodically by the crow of a neighbor’s rooster.

Knauer can’t quite explain his motivation for creating a seascape in a landlocked plot in Ohio, other than the fact that he’s a landscaper by trade, and a beach presented a creative challenge. As he recalled it, the idea leapt to mind while he and a friend were walking through a nursery and spotted a big palm tree for sale.

“He says, ‘Brian, you could do that.’ I said, ‘Wow, I could.’ “

So he did.

Besides, his wife, Tracy, loves the beach, and a backyard version is the closest the two of them can get to a vacation during the warm months, he said. From spring to fall, he’s tied up with his business, Scotland Yard Landscaping, but the after-work hours are beach time at the Knauer cabana.

Tracy Knauer’s favorite spot is the hammock. Dog, their beagle, likes to dig a hole and lie in the cool sand, but Bob the dachshund is a little fussier about getting dirty.

Their friends have caught on to the laid-back lifestyle. The beach has become the favorite party place for their social circle, and friends are constantly dropping by after work. “They say, ‘Let’s go have a beer on the beach,’ ” Knauer said.

Apparently, some of the pilots who fly out of nearby Portage County Airport have gotten wind of the beach, too. Air traffic over the yard has picked up noticeably, Knauer said.

The sandy sanctuary has taken shape in just the year since the couple moved in. They didn’t even have all the boxes unpacked before Knauer started realizing his vision.

He dug out about 12 inches of soil, then laid down heavy-duty landscape fabric over the dirt. On top of that went about 40 tons of sand — two semitrailers’ worth, at about $30 to $35 a ton wholesale. The approximately 40-by-50-foot backyard beach has a peculiar Miami-meets-the-Midwest feel.

Beach chairs are parked under an umbrella next to a waterfall that cascades past a rubber plant and a water palm, and a concrete curb keeps the sand from spilling onto the grass beyond. Tiki torches surround the hot tub at the edge of a patio.

A couple of fake palms on loan from a friend sprout their too-green fronds next to the house, while the real things grow in pots on the opposite side of the sandy stretch.

A few of the palms are just houseplants from Home Depot, but Knauer also had three adonidia palms shipped from Florida to add a little authenticity. The shipping cost as much as the plants themselves, so he’s hoping to boost their survival chances by parking them in a friend’s greenhouse for the winter.

The beach isn’t all fun and frolic. Sand washes onto the patio when it rains or when the creek on the property overflows, and it has to be swept back into place. Weeds that pop through the sand have to be pulled.

The waterfall requires weekly maintenance, and Knauer said it’s a bear keeping sand out of the house and the hot tub.

And he has to rake the sand periodically to keep it looking good.

“Every time we have a party,” he said, “it’s pretty much trashed.”

Still, he already has big plans to expand on his tropical retreat. He’d like to have an ocean mural painted on the house’s concrete-block foundation to serve as a backdrop, and he’s planning to add a tiki-hut bar.

Someday, he hopes to put in an above-ground pool with a wood walkway leading to it. And that dead tree in the back yard, the one everybody tells him he should cut down — wouldn’t that look great carved like a Corona bottle? he asked.

Hey, you’ve gotta have vision.