Use a japanese theme its great for keeping maintenance low and would suita shaded garden. Avoid rhodedendron it can grow aggresively and could dwarf the garden. You couls use acombination of composite decking and paving and shale and membrane and an aggregate of your choice. You could use a mini rhodedendron. Use lighting the evening is when the garden is enjoyed most during meal times or a glass of wine in the dusk of summer! keep the shrubs you already have and put to one side while the work gets done. When the landscaping work has been completed the plants can then be recycled they will look great and help to save money.gareth@berkshiregardening.co.uk

Hanging a pergola off the walls would be ideal to screen you from overlooking neighbours.

You don't mention what you wish to do in the space. This wil ultimately determine how you develop the space. The English country style could be achieved through topiary (I see you have some already) symmetrical plantings and the furniture you choose for the space. Hydrangeas grown up the walls would soften the area, while providing colour. Flowering plants such as iris don't tend to attract bees but act as focal points of colour in otherwise green planting schemes. - we always have happy honey bees all over our rhododendrons so maybe they wouldn't be so good for you? (although they very rarely sting - you have to sit on them somehow)

The current circular paving pattern gives a sense of movement and space to a relatively small area. Any replacement paving choices need to keep this design aspect in mind.

I hope this helps! Gayle

Dear Berkshire Gardens & Gayle:

Thank you very much for your considered comments. Unfortunately, they came after the attached sketch was made. Would you be kind to give us your opinion on the sketch?

Hi, I'm not sure where to find the sketch, but would be happy to comment if it is still of use to you. Regards, Gayle

Gayle, attached is a scan of the garden sketch. We have not gone ahead with it--yet. We would welcome your comments.

The PDF scan didn't work. I'm trying a JPG file now.

To whom it may concern,

Looking at the sketch it looks quite formal and for the size of the garden. I wouldn't recommend splitting the garden into two sections unless you are trying to create the secret/hidden garden to the rear. What I would recommend is having a seating area raised to the rear right or rear left back of the garden, well lit, for use in summer evenings when you are back from work. The materials that are used will depict what kind of style garden you are trying to portray for instance York stone traditional English, hardwood decking Japanese, travertine stone Meditteranean, granite contemporary. If you do decide to keep the design formal and want to split the garden into two sections. A overhead semi circular curve pergola could help with making it a little more interesting. Depending on what you are using the garden for will really depend on the outcome of the design. Also the position and direction the garden is facing. Are you wanting it for entertaining? relaxing in? dining?gardening?do you have children? vegetable plots? english?californian?japanese?contemporary?traditional? ask some of these questions and once the function of the garden has been established, the aesthetics can come later. Hope this is helpful! Good Luck! Gareth@berkshiregardening.co.uk

Hi KSGGRO,

The sketch plan looks good. It shows the style you are aiming for in a classic English country garden, albeit in miniature scale. The formality works well in small spaces and looks good when viewed from above.

As mentioned previously, whether the design wil work or not come back to what you want to use the space for? As shown it does not appear to allow for making best use of the late morning sun in terms of seating areas?

Having reviewed the plan my earlier comments stand - a pergola would shield you from the neighbours. YOu would want the timbers (or metal) to run lengthways rather than across the garden to ensure the angled sun could still get through, but block the view from neighbouring eyes.

If the central areas are block bricked there will be little sense of movement and dynamism in the space. Given it's walled definition I suggest the space could feel a little claustrophobic if held too tightly. You could play with the paving with a contrast colour, or just bricks on their edge, in a X across the main paved areas. That would be sufficient to visually expand or 'spread' the space a little.

Design is very much a dynamic process where one idea sparks another. You are wise to take your time.

To Gareth and Gayle:

I wanted to give you a little explanation about the garden sketch. The garden is supposed to be raised by two small steps in the middle, just under the Pergola. We were not sure about the pergola at that place in the garden and were inclined to remove it from the final design. Instead we wanted to add a Pergola to the right of the back garden, to add some privacy when in the garden, as that was the part of the garden that gets most of the sunlight in the afternoon.
The paving design included some spotted blue 40X40 tiles which were also separated by rows of two lengthwise placed small size bricks, original to the house. The planting design included boxwood and taxus baccata, in which the taxus would be used to act as a separation of the seating area and to create a privacy niche. I was a bit surprised that the gardener insisted to plant the boxwood as a 60 cm wide hedge in our small garden (9m X 5m ) and even as I tried to resist assured me that that is the standard. The other plants that were planed for the garden were mostly low growing pachysandra and some potted plants. We wanted some Wisteria growing along the pergola and also on the wall of our house facing the garden, where we should eventually have a nice veranda.
You inquired about the purpose of the garden and I must admit that we don't spend much time out at all. THe weather in Holland is mostly rain throughout the year, with very few if any sunny days. It amazes us really that our neighbours, an almost retired couple, seem to spend all their spare time in their garden. Our garden is mostly used by our two playful cats that love to play hide and seed behind the plants.
I truly appreciate your comments as that gives me ideas with which to improve on this design, or even change it. Thank you!:-)