Hello Moomin. Thank you for posting your query. A planting design takes time, weighing up the site, your style and maintenance. Year round structure for aesthetics as well as screening and privacy come first. Always a shame when planting is an afterthought after landscaping! However this is very common and I've had some experience of planting design commissions after landscaping has been done. My initial thoughts do not take into account many things which can't be conveyed in one photo provided here (as designers we take into account the various views within the garden amongst other things) but I will outline here a sketchy response to demonstrate some considerations. There have been some good suggestions made above. Jonathandb1972 has a good one, planting a carefully selected tree, so the canopy softens (but not hides) the view of the conservatory behind. Olive could be an option but depends on the aspect given that your a fellow Yorkshire resident! Alternatively there's Pyrus salicifolia, or Prunus lusitanica the latter responding particularly well to pruning to retain the size. Always talk to your neighbour about your careful choices and help them to understand that you've considered maintenance.... And the benefit of planting for them! For best results a planter at least 50cm deep and nearly as much wide to help a tree flourish. Deeper would be better. Keeping a collection of containers of the same/similar material would unify the view. Perhaps allowing a climber up the adjacent wall which faces you when descending the steps? A third container might fit in the corner in front of the downpipe? Although the dimensions of space available would determine if this is possible. The dark colour of the fence is receding and also provides a lovely neutral colour to show off the foliage of the specimen. A very rough sketch is shown here in a version of your photo below. I've just done it on the iPad so is a bit rough and ready. In order to avoid the tree becoming too much of a focal point (you're trying to avoid looking at the building behind) a bold evergreen plant to the left corner next to the steps would draw your eye within the garden. This could then be balanced out with another one to the right of the tree or possibly one up the steps against the fence. This all depends on scale and space available. This would be my first draft concept but might well come to a different response when seeing the garden for real. Happy planting!

While white fencing isn't for me in a back garden, I have seen loads of pics here on Houzz with white fences and, although they mostly seem to be over in the USA (let's face it - they tend to have better daylight in parts of North America than we do in the UK) I do like the look of it, though. I especially like the whitewash appearance if you're going for a Cottage Garden as it adds a weathered appeal. I went for black in my garden which looks pretty stylish, especially with the greens and whites in front of it. I used to live in a house with a roof terrace and we were advised at the time to not use white on the inside of the parapet walls as it would glare too much. The chosen option for the wall was pale grey (before it was fashionable) and it worked really well. For this reason, I wouldn't have gone for white fence or white furniture.

Hello all, I thought I would share my AFTER pics of my garden transformation and the fence colour I have chosen. Hope you like it!!

Hi, the slabs were Natural Paving products. Premierstone Platinum. size: 900 x 600. They look brilliant, people love them, they are easy to sweep. However, they are a deathtrap! Kids in socks skid over on it and if there is the slightest bit of water it's like an ice rink, especially the steps! Am going to paint it with a non slip coating in the hope this solves the problem. You also need to make sure they are bedded on a solid base of mortar, rather than blobs, as the blobs wick up the moisture and you can see this on the top of the slab. Saying that, I do have a French drain under the patio, so there's a lot of moisture there. I only got round to painting the fence this weekend (Rubbish I know!) Started out the front and will work my way round the back as each panel needs adjusting as it's sagged. Oped for Cuprinol Silver Copse in the end. Really happy so far.