Here's a shot facing the house.

Just curious How much space do you have to work with? What will the sun exposure be? Another thread here was just talking about the smaller forms of Japanese maples. I do not have a JM but have read about forms that mature at 8 ft, 6 ft, even 2 ft. I've toyed with the idea myself of incorporating one of the shorter weeping forms in a relatively small bed. For your situationÂImagine a clump of evergreen somethingerothers nearer the lane at the back of your property, then the Jap maple offset and in front of that clump nearer your patio. Back toward the lane again and keeping good spacing do another evergreen, but perhaps something different from the first grouping. I don't have one of the Northern Lights Rhodies yet, and can't remember without looking whether they are evergreen. I know some put on fragrance along with their spring bloom, so one is on my future "wants" list. Spacing again and then back to whatever evergreen you started with. Maybe on the patio side of things you could blend in a few bulbs and perennial favorites along with the JM. Fairly simple, but you'd have a 4 season show with blooms and foliage. There have been discussions here about what creates a sense of enclosure. You might even do a search of this forum for "enclosure" or "privacy". One of the things that I found to be helpful, is that a screen doesn't have to be thick, solid, or tall to create a sense of "my space". Also, some folks point out that thick screening works both ways. Hides the lane, traffic, etc. but may also screen the intruder lurking in the bushes you were so kind to provide. Hope my ramble helps you think. Wellspring

In order to get help with this kind of a project, you need to show much more surroundings (context) and provide a base plan so that people can understand what space really exists. Show the project space, and surroundings, in slightly overlapping pictures that broadly pan the scene.

Hard to show and make sense in this distorted picture. I'm thinking the main wall section (with planter sitting on it) is parallel to the house, in which case it could extend farther, where it could transition to a curve until it gets closer to house, ending 90* to it, allowing for a pathway that might connect to side of house. I could see why you'd like to bomb this piece of ground as it's so close to the house. Impossible to know what you're up against until you get there, but some rock is soft and not that bad to break up. (Not all, of course.) I'd undertake this with a mindset/intent of breaking the 'boulder' up with a jackhammer and go to plan B if it didn't work out. I guess plan B would be the terraced next level up from the current patio. It would be good to make that as low as possible. (Haha ... I had that same statue for many years.)