Hi there! Great before and after shoots. Very nice garden. I am sure your client is very happy and enjoy this lovely summer.

Hi there, it looks great so far. I'd also be inclined to go for low maintenance grasses. I think the box hedge might look a little to formal and will be difficult to clip if it takes well to the soil. I agree with Jonathan and think you could do with a little more height. Personally I would do as you suggested and grow a tree or something tall in a large pot up the corner. Some ideas for grasses, monkey grass and ponytail grass are both evergreen and will tolerate pretty much any soil. The two combined would look great together and contrast nicely with your fence.

I like Sonia’s idea for an obelisk and a climber. The winter flowering jasmine might be nice and give you some winter colour ( p.s. I’m no good at remembering the Latin names:)). Alternatively I thought some flowering spikes might look interesting with the natural looking mix, so something like perennial foxgloves, verbascum, acanthus (think there’s an evergreen variety of this), penstemon etc. For spring flowering you also look at Aquilegia, some of the vulgaris varieties can grow quite tall (up to 1m). They do have a tendency to self seed everywhere tho but easily controlled and very pretty when in flower. I think an evergreen of some sort would look good and anchor the rest of the planting, something that’s easily controlled such as osmanthus holly olive, yew, or the upright euonymus, all slow growing and won’t be fussed about being clipped.

Hi. Mmmmm.... the examples you posted are specifically pruned to that shape and need to be kept pruned regularly. I call them lollipop trees😊. Most trees don’t usually grow to a set height then stop, unless trimmed they just keep on growing. Containers will need to be big as they need a good amount of root space and will conserve water better. I think you’ll find the containers more expensive than the trees/ shrubs themselves. This site has some good examples of ‘lollipop’ trees: https://www.paramountplants.co.uk/clear-stem-trees.html Not sure if any of them flower. There are lots of plants you could use for a specific planting scheme. A local garden nursery should be able to help with what would be suitable for your area.