Advice or ideas on narrow garden landscaping, partitioning and dealing with a raised patio

@Allotment Boy thanks, in the first picture on the right of the step you have a tall very narrow column tree - what is that please as something like that would be ideal for me to get some height without too much spread.

Acers look great too, I have some but they don't fare well due to the full sun on my patio.

 

@Dan1981 , The trees are pencil Cypress. Cupressus Sempevirens. There is one either side of the steps. Unfortunately one of the original pair died. We had to pay a lot for a large specimen to match , but the replacement is now outgrowing the other one. Below are some more pictures from a couple of years ago that give more idea of the effect.


Partial view back to house.

 

Whatever you decide to do/have in the way of planting @Dan1981, sort the patio levels or adjustments first.
The hard landscaping is what always needs done before any planting changes are made. You can also add other seating areas later depending on whether you need shade to sit in or sun.

 

@Dan1981 , I also want some narrow height on my patio and went for Juniper Skyrocket . I bought it a year ago as a pencil sized cheapie, it's now like this so hopefully in some years it will start to look like a tree.




Arbutus unedo is a charming evergreen tree, mine is probably going to stay as patio tree in a large pot. My youngster (yes those are weeds in the pot ):

 

I've had really poor success with pots over the past 2 years.

Acers have done great...for a while, and then leaves have gone brown and fallen off.

A eucalyptus started off great, then the bottom leaves went brown and fell off.

A couple of other plants have just died.

We've kept the pots watered, they aren't too big or too small, and they are getting sun.

Another problem is buying small plants, which have hardly grown in a couple of years. I need to buy bigger plants.

 

Ah yes by the end of summer some of my potted Acer leaves are looking brown and crispy at the edges. The good news is they will sprout a nice crop of new ones next year
Remember Acers are woodland edge plants so they want good light but not harsh sun, they also have very fine roots that need to be moist but not wet at all times. If there is no rain even those in the ground need regular watering, those in pots may need it daily if you have the kind of summer we've just experienced. The cultivar makes a difference too. We had an A. Bloodgood in a pot by a south facing back door and it was fine. The only reason we moved it away was because it got too big for the space

 

Just a word of warning @Selleri, its ultimate height is 8 metres.

 

I'm really struggling to imagine and draw how to cut into the lawn for wider borders. I just can't get anything down on paper.

Went to look at the garden centre yesterday. Saw a few options for trees/taller plants including Laburnum, Prunus and a Phyllostachys Nigra bamboo.

The bamboo was by far the tallest choice available so would give an instant screen in the one place I really need it. But I don't know how to make it gel with other plants or what to plant around it. I already have a large grass next to the Camilia and to me it doesn't match very well.

 

I think you're trying to run before you can walk @Dan1981 . Look at your garden from the lower level rather than the upper one, and then see what changes you would make - although that patio would still need done first. Dividing a plot up into 'rooms' is always a good idea, but if you aren't able to visualise the different areas, it's better to get someone else to do it, or use one of those computer programmes that allow you to draw up a plan. I don't use them, as I prefer pen and paper, but I believe there are some decent ones available. Making it to scale is the most important thing.
Re small plants versus larger ones - it isn't always better to have larger specimens as they need more experience and care to establish them. It also depends on the plant itself - ie genus, variety etc. Most plants need several years to reach full size. Anything potted also needs more care than in the ground. Gardening isn't instant, despite those TV shows tending to imply that it is.

 

The problem is I absolutely have to put some taller plants in now because I need to block the view along a specific direction. I'll take a photo shortly. The raised patio means that whatever I put in has to be 3-4m tall.

 

So this might help. It's looking down on the garden from my upstairs bedroom window. Forgive the piles of bricks, recently had a chimney removed and I'm still clearing the rubble.

I've put all the trellis up on the right hand side this year, but it needs planting as I can still see through it obviously.

The red lines show the problem view that I need to screen.

 

Is it the multistorey building you want to hide @Dan1981 ? How about a large obelisk or some sort of metal framework for climbers? You could put in temporary annuals to cover it for next year while you use the garden, and add perennial plants to take over eg roses, pyracantha, clematis

 

Morning Dan,

Thanks for the photo, I can now understand your problem and sympathise with your concern.

However I would like to gently point out that it is pointless getting worked up about something that is not under your control and you must believe me when I say from my own past experience that you will get used to that tall building within a relatively short period of time. We had a large 3 storey block of flats built right next to our boundary wall at a previous house, the developers then moved the situation of the block slightly up the hill which meant that one flat's windows looked directly into our kitchen - and I mean directly from approx 3-4 metres away. When we complained the Planning Inspector told us that as it was a bedroom opposite our kitchen, both of us would not be in the same rooms at the same time!

We did get used to it in the same way that people who move within an airport's orbit get used to the planes.

If you put in a large tree/bamboo right in the corner close to your patio, you will eventually have problems with size, roots and leaves and very possibly annoyed neighbours. I wouldn't do it.

Do you know what the developers plan to do with the land in front of the tall building?

 

It's not the building you can see in the background, it's the new building site in the middle distance where there will be a 3 storey apartment block
If you look at the first photo in this thread you can see there were trees there, and now they are gone.