Her are pics of my yard!

One more! View from inside

What is it you want to do in this area? Entertain friends and family? Relax? Garden? Do you want more garden rooms? Do you have privacy concerns? Answer these questions first. Then think about what you NEED. Do the rest as you can. A garden is never finished.

If entertaining is a goal, do you need space for a grill? Do you need outdoor lighting? Adding paving is probably the costliest project; it depends on how deep your soil freezes for one. Lights can be strung from the house to a tree or post, or from post to post along the edge of your patio.

Do you want a private place to read and relax? You can make a Garden Room by adding flower beds as walls and placing a bench along one side. Privacy can be had by hedges, fences or screens. A SCREEN can work for small areas.

Was thinking of Frans Fontaine

==>> little vague on what plant this is ...

a year around lap pool in z5??? . where are you.. big city name... will you be putting it under a greenhouse??.. or structure???

you will probably have to remove the large tree for a pool ...

since you are new there.. you might want to experience your yard thru summer.. your first season there.. to fully understand it all ...

ken

ps: the arbs can probably be moved rather than destroyed.. when you get to that part of the project ...

To soften the fence, put in a bunch of small trees and larger shrubs. Alternative leaf dogwood, lindera besoin, mt. Laural and azaleas and rhodos. Viburnums. Then, move your perennials to in front of your shrubs. You can also do climbers, if the fence gets sun, you can put in a rambler or climbing rose. Check the zones, though.

I wouldn't have hedged off the patio, so you could transplant some of those trees to the fence line.

You don't have much room for garden rooms. Certainly not with a lap pool, which in Z5 may detract rather than add value to your house. You can only use them, at best for 5 months and they take a ton of maintenance. When I bought my house in Z5, any house with a pool was vetoed or the cost of removing It was figured in to my decision. Covered pools are not attractive and that will be your view for 6 or months of the year.

"Was thinking of Frans Fontaine

==>> little vague on what plant this is ..."

Carpinus betulus 'Frans Fontaine' - columnar European hornbeam. An excellent narrow screening tree.

Get some graph paper and sketch out your garden to scale. That way you can play around with spacing and see if all your ideas fit. I'd also wonder about the suitability of a lap pool in a zone 5 and how well it could be fitted into an already compact garden. That would the first item omitted for me but then I tend to focus more on the garden itself rather than hardscaping features that are not used on a daily basis. Your wants may be different :-)

I appreciate all your comments! @ Sigred - I did wonder about transplanting the arborvitae. I don’t love them where they are. The view from the kitchen windows is also quite strange where they are planted. Fence line does make more sense. I did transplant some at my last house and they did well. Well, my husband doesn’t want a pool after all so I will have to cross that off my list. I am thinking garden rooms! We do like to entertain, and I do plan on growing a a veggie garden off kitchen which is my side yard, actually just as deep! Thinking of a winding grass path giving the illusion that the yard may not be so shallow! Taking you from main area of back yard to shed and then veggie garden.
@ gardengal48 - the local landscaper suggested Chanticleer Pear along fence line not frans fotaine. I noticed you are a big fan of the hornbeam and that pear trees go to seed and I don’t want that mess. I have 20 feet between deck/patio and fence line. Enough space? Anything you might recommend that is a bit more narrow and still won’t over power our ranch house?

The hornbeams are really an exceptional tree and pretty ideal for these purposes. You have more than enough room for them long the fenceline. They retain their narrowness much longer than does the pear and won't get any wider. And the pear just has too many faults, primarily that it is an invasive species across much of the midwest and midAtlantic. It also smells when in bloom and is not a very structurally sound tree, prone to a lot of wind and snow/ice damage.

There are a few columnar oaks that will stay slightly more narrow - Green Pillar, Crimson Spire and Skinny Genes. Also a very narrow sweetgum, Slender Silhouette.

ANY of these are preferable to the pear!!

Your yard is really nice, and your neighbors rood is actually kind of cute. You can’t see in any windows, so I would not be super concerned about it.

How big do those arborvitae get? What direction does the back of your house face? You have a big shade tree, and more trees or tall shrubs are going to give you more shade. Is that what you want? Your space actually feels calm and welcoming as it is. Might just need a little tweaking.

We are in full sun! In fact the previous owner told us their next update was going to be a retractable awning. Backyard is on West side of house and neighbors yard doesn’t have any shade trees. I agree, it is a beautiful roof, but I think the trees would soften the fence that seems like it is in our faces since it is so close to house and deck. I am going to try to find the Frans Fontaine Hornbeam. I think they will be a worthwhile investment. Now what to pair with them? Hmmm….

Thanks for the posts and info on Pear trees! I was concerned about the recommendation especially after reading posts on this site. That pic you posted @ NHBabs zb4-5a NH confirmed it!