Actually, I had a thought. If someone else mentioned this, please forgive me, there is a lot in this thread to scroll through xD
Like how they do rugs inside, why not do a sort of yard rug if it is too much trouble to add in an additional fixture change for the yard *flooring* itself. Since yards are a general size, make the *rugs* large enough that you would only need 2 or 3 to fill in the whole yard. Could have pavement rug, snow rug... yeah, prob get the idea....