You are not there yet. You are so far from being there that you did not ask a single question. I would suggest that you do something to get closer to "there" which will then give you specific dilemas and/or choices that you might need advice on for making. As Glenda the Good Witch said to Dorothy, "it is best to start at the beginning and then just follow the yellow brick road". Work from general toward specific. An example would be that you want a patio, then where it should be relative to other activities that exist or you want to exist (like near a door to the kitchen), then how big you want it vs. how much room you have,.... Choosing material is a resulting point not a starting point. It will be a matter of whether you are going to be wearing shoes or barefoot (around a pool? you don't want to pick up loose joint material on wet feet and have it in the pool, you don't want exposed edges that can hurt feet, you don't want something too hot to walk on), it will be cost driven to one degree or another, availability of materials, and finally the capability of your contractor (you in this case I suspect). OZ is a long way away and there are witches, lions, and tigers, and bears, and lets not rule out flying monkies. Surround yourself with good people and ask the right questions, and above all, make the commitment and all will be well. Commitment is often in the form of hiring qualified people. It often requires spending some money. Sometimes it can be done through hard work and determination. It never comes too easy or it is not much of a commitment.

Oh yes,I am guilty of some devious garden deeds myself! My wonderful dh of 30+ years is a city boy raised in an apartment . He had never grown anything except cactus in a pot or had a pet, not even a goldfish poor guy! Unfortunately he can not rid himself of the thought everything from nature should be free. We are very lucky to have "birds" that fly over head dropping seeds of all the exotic plants I love! (I buy small one's tuck them here in there, once he notices something new , I act amazed....& have him transplant it to the perfect place in the gardens) ;) One thing I must say he is catching the hosta bug ,even did a little pollinating last season....of course I am a good wife & show him all the best seedlings those being the ones "he" pollinated ! Life is good & I think he will learn gardening just in time for his retirement :) YAY!! ~Dot

Thank you everyone for your messages ! I am very happy to see so many options and experts opinions. gardengal48 : regarding the Oleander, this is what our neighbours already have under their window. I believe it is very old (probably 40 years) but it does not fully cover the window... Arbutus unedo: this is a lovely option, didn't think about it. Will definitely look onto it and see if I can find an already grown tree, high enough and check regarding the spreading so it won't eat too much space on the plot/shadow too much the garden (not more than the neighbours' house already do), but I find these trees pretty if well controlled! Figs/avocados: I love both fruits, and it is awesome to have trees producing fruits on the plots! we already have lemon tree, almond tree, orange tree. Our neighbours (on the other side) have fig tree, although the tree is beautiful and quite big, it is too spreaded, not so high and not so leafy unfortunately.. Avocados trees are quite random looking and I am not sure that the temperature will be ideal to grow good avocado fruits. But it would be so convenient as it is my favorite fruit ! kiminpl : thanks for the suggestions of palm trees ! We do have a Canary Island Date Palm and it is very costly as we have to pay the amount of a SIM plan to have it treated on a monthly basis due to the bugs attacks. Bismarckia nobilis + Dypsis decaryi: looks quite efficient when it comes to block the view if already grown, will check this at the tree nursery once there ! Illume Environment + Design: thanks for the name of the tree from the picture, I had no idea ^^ I think that I definitely need to check grown Yuccas at the tree nursery as I like the fact that mine is quite developed and really blocks the space it's covering. I hope to find a bigger one that might reach the height I hope for (I checked on google high Yuccas are definitely an interesting option). For the neighbours laurel, I am not quite sure it will grow much more, I read only that it could reach up to 4-5meters high in some areas in Spain and I believe that we are there already... But I will definitely take a picture and compare once I am there next April, the above picture was taken in April 2017 so it will be the occasion to see if it keeps growing ! the first picture of the very tall Yucca, this would be absolutely perfect for my needs I believe !

"Is there a website you suggest that offers tips in this area?" You are there now! I commend you on wanting to draw a plan. Every person who is going to do landscape installation/construction work, should have a plan to work from before the work begins. It can save a lot of grief. It is one thing to get ideas. People are getting them here every day, usually from a perspective view and sometimes just verbally. Getting the ideas is one of the first steps, but they need to be translated into plan form in order to know that things fit, look compatible with the space and in order to make quantity calculations. (The plan will be to a specific scale in order to accurately measure directly from it,) When you're ready to get help with ideas, start a new thread for that specific area of the yard. (Trying to do the whole yard at once is difficult and confusing.) Upload a photo spread that shows the complete area from end to end. Have the camera be in line with the center of the scene. (That is 99% of the time going to alight with the front door or center of house.) Take a full 180* of slightly overlapping pictures, starting at the far left and panning the camera to the far right. If you move the camera location while capturing the scene, it will no longer work as a scene. The camera must just pivot while you stay in one spot. Also, don't be too far away from the house or we won't see enough detail. You should be far enough away to capture the roof but not a lot of sky. And we should see about 20-30' of lawn area in front of the house, but not a lot more, or a lot of street. (That's a different picture.) At the first and last photo of the panoramic spread, we'll see the fronts of your flanking neighbors' houses. After you take those pictures, move across the street and take a single picture that shows your whole front yard at once. Also, you'll want to start working on a BASE PLAN ... a simple plan that shows your site with house footprint, drive, walks, fences, property line, existing tree trunks (don't draw in canopy) and any important features that will remain. Don't add any extra detail such as small plants, shading hatching, color, etc. If bed lines are subject to change, don't draw them in. Only things that are guaranteed to be in the finished plan, at ground level, should be in the base plan. If there's a question about it, it's easier to add to it later, than it is to do a bunch of erasing. Keeping it simple will make it easier to understand. (I've seen many landscape plans so complex, that they are difficult and time consuming to read.)