Ivan, I'd recommend a combination of grasses and evergreen and deciduous shrubs in varying heights, to provide some enclosure for the patio and create a sense of movement in what's otherwise a fairly static landscape. Here in Northern California, if it were a sunny area I would consider including English lavender (Lavandula), Feather Reed Grass (Calamagrostis), New Zealand Flax (Phormium 'Guardsman') and Breath-of-Heaven (Coleonema 'Sunset Gold') — but your climate zone, soil, and sun/shade exposure will dictate what plants will thrive in your yard.

all the trees you see in the bottom picture are lilac trees excepting the red shaina japanese maple in the far left corner. I the top picture you can see a Coral bark japanese maple as well (the trees are represented to scale)

I don't know how to make the transition to the larger garden area at the back
I was thinking along the same lines as you did...plant that area to become a focal point when seen from above from the deck and when you enter the area from the side of the garage. Then when you are sited at the table you should focus on the bigger garden (design pending) if you sit at the left of the table. The guest who sit at the right side of the table will continue to focus on the small area in discussion here.

The hardiness zone is 7a (Toronto). My japanese coral bark survived a though winter with some die backs for smaller branches . I am thinking about building focal points around the two japanese maples mentioned above

I have some grasses can't find the exact pictures but here are very similar if not identical ones

I should have said that the area takes like 4-5 hours of sun between 10-14 the North is at the bottom of each picture. Not sure if they will do well there. For now I have them in the top right corner of the garden where we wanted to test them

You can see a real picture here

[https://www.houzz.com/discussions/shaina-japanese-maple-flanked-by-2-coral-bark-jm-how-much-room-aroud-dsvw-vd~4654102[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/shaina-japanese-maple-flanked-by-2-coral-bark-jm-how-much-room-aroud-dsvw-vd~4654102)

That deck is gone...the new one looks like is the pictures in this thread

Since then when the above thread was posted I decided to switch the positions of the two japanese maples so they are as in the renderings in this thread

here are some older design attempts

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/designer-eye-needed-to-select-the-best-form-composition-4-this-layout-dsvw-vd~4094491

Useful for having an idea about the layout of the place

Hire someone to cut the grass for you. End of problem.

Too much shade for the Miscanthus you show (and they'd be too large for the area), but Calamagrostis brachytricha will do very well there. It's the only largeish grass I know of that tolerates considerable shade. And its quite handsome.

Seems to me you have enough plant material in the space. How about removing the grass and putting a nice Zen type garden

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HI guys

Thank you for the suggestions...I also thought about a rock garden or a zen japanese garden in that area but I think that that will add to much rock like feeling in that area which is already dominated by the large patio (this is a given, I bought the house that way and it is too much work to remove it)

Besides that I think that the over hanging lilac trees will ruin the effect intended by a Japanese garden

Yes to 1/2 “ beach pebbles ( they available in bulk at stone yards in various colors ) or decomposed granite along with a few accents as mentioned. Mine has a water feature , a 4’ tall urn fountain with an underground water reservoir. My area, similar to yours has a MCM look.

In the first rendering in my post (but not shown in the real pictures) you can see two climbing roses which are now around 3' tall which we planted last year ...the plan is to let them grow high (by adding some trellis later) to cover the gaps between my neighbor's trees. Not sure if those will play well with the japanese garden ...

@K Laurence...what is the meaning of the MCM look? Do you have any pictures for your garden that I can look at ?

@Flo Morgan

Not sure about the water thing, I considered that too.
Here is a design that looks nice in a narrow space but I thing that mine is a little bit too wide

More like the above here https://www.pinterest.ca/pin/AXkovosQiPIiPb8PswkPLtjLjpe5FZypf-by8aCq_iPpo3M-jG_WB2I/

As for the water feature I considered this look at some point (the long pond in the picture aligned along the fence with that type of grass or similar). Then I changed my mind and I considered adding the same but wider and longer without grass in the middle of the larger area of my garden

water features are great.....and lots of maintenance. If you love the look do it it's gorgeous but I think I would stick with the pro's advice and do the lavender and grasses. If you get enough light it's a great space for tons of herbs....culinary and medicinal.

@IvanT... sorry, I’m out of town now, but Google MCM ( mid century modern) landscape designs ... think of Palm Springs. It’s an understated contemporary look, which is more common where I live Coastal S California.

I considered that option too...hen and chicken and other plants that are hardy, lay low and cover the ground ....not sure how much light I need for that though ...

On the other side a Japanese garden might seem like low maintenance (no watering or anything special..or not a lot) but with three overhanging there will be a continuous flux of dead flowers and leaves from the lilac trees just above these.

It might be easier to clear a Japanese garden than the ground cover and perennials in the fall..

It won't be less work, but what about a food garden? A raspberry patch, a couple of blueberry bushes (we like Northland), and a raised bed or two. You can plant between the bushes and beds with a low growing ground cover like thyme or sorrel. Sorrel is edible and tastes tart and fresh. You can walk on both without harming them :)

It would be a natural spot for it where you can pop some carrots out of the ground to add to your dinner or graze for some berries for dessert.

I am very intrigued by this space and keep getting pictures in my mind for it. (no I'm not hallucinating!) Here is a concept for you to play with. It is rough sketch and involves creating a "winding" path with a couple of "destinations". I think this would transform the space in a lovely way by "opening" it up visually.

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Now we continue looking around and notice the variegated grasses along the fence low and "non-leaf" generating with undulating gravel or stone racked in an interesting pattern along the curved new walkway. There is another boulder in the center of the "lake" and behind that is a Burgundy Japanese Maple or dark purple Japanese Maple. We are now ready to sit down under the covered seating area for a lovely dinner or evening with friends. The wall of wood for the platform for the hot tub is completely transformed into something nice to enjoy, and no leafs to get out of garden area. So the only leafs would be from the existing plant material and perhaps some judicious trimming could help control that. Maintenance of a recycling water feature is very easy. I have two and every couple of years, they need a bit of clean out. Requires power, which is probably available behind the hot tub enclosure. Now that you have had a drink and are relaxed, what do you think!?

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If you don't like having to remove grass clipping from the patio, you don't want a pebble-based garden space as you will be needing to continuously remove dropped leaves and other organic matter as well as weed it in some way to keep it looking good. Pebbles are not easy to weed. This type of garden works best for areas with lower rainfall than the Great Lakes or if you have a staff of gardeners or enjoy constant puttering, but I don't get the feeling that is your thing. I do like the general idea of removing the grass unless you have a use for grass there.

I like Yardvaark's sketch as being nice to look at but relatively low maintenance. There are ground covers of varying heights and that grow well in a wide range of soil and light conditions, and then having shrubs or perennials or a mix of the two with a long season of interest will give you something to look at all year. It's just a matter of choosing the right plants for your conditions. You want to choose a groundcover that is tall enough to "eat" the leaves that drop unlike hens and chicks. Both the lilacs and the J. Maples have leaves that rot fairly quickly and aren't typically dense enough to smother a taller ground cover, so will enrich the soil. While it fills in, use shredded bark mulch. It will still need occasional weeding, but most likely less time than you currently spend on the lawn.

The New England forum has had a few threads on groundcovers. You haven't said what your soil is like, but New England soils tend to be acid and loamy with a lot of rocks, so I don't know which of the ones mentioned in these threads will work for you. You can make a list and do some research.

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/3832567/groundcovers-for-boston-area-that-dont-disappear-in-winter?n=6

https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/2059939/covering-the-ground?n=29

Here are some photos of a friend's garden which has a range of groundcovers and perennials interspersed with trees and shrubs, all of which do fine in part shade, including Geraniums such as Biokovo, hakone grass, Pulmonaria, hosta, shredded umbrella plant, Japanese painted fern, maidenhair fern, astilbe, European ginger, and Dicentra among others. You can go for a mixed tapestry as Marie has done or use only one or two kinds. Notice how the bird bath, bench and large jar provide focal points. You may want to add stepping stones or paths to make maintenance easier.

(Sorry about the delay in the photos posting - my slow rural internet connection sometimes is less than cooperative with photos.)

Flo than you for the very nice design. My only issue with that is that requires a lot of work and I am not touching that pation again even if it is a boring space (could be improved my dropping planters with flowers on it)

As NHBabs mentioned a Japanese garden in that spot might be a nightmare...for two reasons: one is the leaves dropping from the above trees ...the other one which I just realized it could be an issue is ...squarrels.

At this point I am trying to find out if it is possible to use a vacuum to get off the organic matter of that pebbles cover using a vacuum or blower. And yes the weeds could be a problem. I currently have a walk path along my house that gives me a headache (I just installed that last year) and despite of deep digging, weed barrier or cloth and gravel on top some weeds still mange to surface near the wall of the house or in some spots where organic matter accumulates

I understand, and I know you will make the best choice among all the suggestions for YOU. No problem. There is no such thing as zero maintenance. There is always some bit of work no matter what. Perhaps you could put some ground cover down and mulch until it gets well established and place a pretty tall modern pot in the center with beautiful plant materials. Like these.

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I don't think that the pots there will have the desired effect, especially the tall ones beacause they will be dominated by the overhanging trees. Probably some smaller/lower pots would work as an interesting focal point in that area...that is the main issue with Yardvaark's suggestion: the area will become like a corridor that leads to the main garden. I think that the things will look better if I build that area as an area with a focal point for the visitors that are sitting on the deck or at the table facing the fence. So I will probably take the ground cover suggestion from him, and the focal point suggestions with boulders/rocks or lower but larger pots of flowers.
I just need to find out something that can live with 4-5 hours of afternoon sun.
The plants that are seen in the real picutre (the rounded pots along the edge of the patio) are doing well there but I can't tell how well they will do if the are moved closer to the fence. I will probably end up puting various species of hostas which will transition gradually into the ground cover by varying the species (from taller and bigger hostas to smaller ones).

I am still open to suggestions ..the above are just ideas, I will for sure create a rendering with what I would like to build there and post it here or an a different thread

What about a water feature?

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Both are nice but I have a crappy fence between me and my neighbor ..not sure when are we going to replace it. That being said I can't really implement that design in my backyard

Right on !

Nice :)

second one is what is there NOW(excepting the deck which looks like in my renderings at the top of this thread

@okotillaks -we already have an area designated for gardening (vegetables)

@tqtqtbv -too much tin in that design ..not my type

@vstavay I think that strip is too narrow to create such a large path there. The cedar trees you put there overload the view. I was thinking about getting rid of the shades of the pergola and add climbing vines to that pergola. I could chose to replace it with a wood pergola to match the design of the deck and add unity to the view but that will come with a fence replacement and only after I decide what I want to do with the far left corner (the two japanese maple trees)

Imagine this design pattern

but using this slabs. They are darker..I already have some and I used a wider version for a walkway along the house

The first two lines along the fence of empty squares could be filled with grasses like the ones below , the tall ones near the fence (first line) the greish ones in the second line to make the transition to the plants shown above

It could look like this.Not the best rendering I can't color the blue grass which shows black in the picture and it is too late in the evening to color each square with ground cover but you get the idea

Can the ground cover you're planning be walked on? I'm thinking of someone sitting at dinner, and someone else wanting to walk behind them to get to the lawn. Will that be easy to do with the checkerboard effect? I ask because I can't tell how much space there is behind the chairs, if the person could walk on the patio portion or not.

the slabs are 18x18, enough to step on them
the table the chairs and the pergola can be moved to the right if needed to create room. As they currently sit there is already enough room for walking behind the chairs on that side

Cool :)

18x18 is large enough to step *on*, but maybe a bit much to step *over*. But if you don't anticipate people walking on them that's not a consideration.

Here you can see how that chess board connects with existing patterns.
It looks a little bit boring but I might choose to break the chess board monotony by changing the alternating patter with something else and scatter the plants. I must admit that it will challenging to set those slabs level and maintain them that way over time ...so I am not entirely sold to this desing

It seems that a zen garden while it is an uplifting view is also a pain in the bottom

http://www.zen-garden.org/html/page_Maintenance.htm

http://www.zen-garden.org/html/page_bottom_surface.htm

http://www.zen-garden.org/html/page_cleanup.htm

Read the above pages. Gravel and plants is out of question

I think slabs (random or square) interleaved with suculents and ground cover is the solution here+ the grasses mentioned above

Make sure you choose grasses or sedges that are shade tolerant such as hakone grass or Carex pensylvanica since many grass and grass-like plants aren't very shade tolerant.

akone grass looks nice, yes I had that on my list to check.

Yes.

Anywhere in the east, gravel is a PITA. Any design you come up with that includes gravel is going to be a PITA. Succulents are also a PITA because they aren't large enough to shade out weeds.

If you want an 'Asian' garden, find some fargesia bamboo, and use that as the background plant. It will probably take up almost the whole space, and be quite low maintenance until the snow squashes it flat. You could also put a small sculpture piece in the middle to view from the patio. Just make sure it can take the winters, or is moveable.