help and advice on planting suggestions for 2 small beds

[Mercedes]

We've just had our patio redone and there's now a really nice spot for plants bedside the patio that you would be able to see when you look out the patio doors.
AS I'm hopeless with design/look of things I usually just stick things in and hope for the best. Afterwards I can see that things are the wrong height etc.
So I'm looking for some suggestions on what to plant in 2 small corners that will look really nice when I look out.
The garden faces south west - the planting area faces north with honeysuckle going up the fence. I was thinking of planting tulips but it will need more than that.The other area is right opposite so get lots of sun.
Any recommendations to make it look fabulous and make it look like I'm an amazing gardener?

What kind of thing are you looking for? How much effort do you want to put in (in terms of maintenance - pruning, supporting, etc)? When you say small, how "small" is it? Do you want things to stay within bounds or sprawl over the edges a bit? How tall do you want it to be?

First thought is something slow growing (maybe a japanese maple - some of those are happy in shade and have gorgeous colours and leaves, esp Acer palmatum dissectum) or grafted (flowering cherries or willow). They all have the added bonus of needing minimal maintenance, and you could underplant with lots of bulbs

I had thought about an Acer but I worry about trees and roots near the house. I'd rather not have to trim anything and like the idea of plants sprawling over small wall onto patio nut it will have to be a minimum sprawl as DP has a thing about untidyness.
The other thing is we live in SE so its a hot garden and gets a lot of sun.
In terms of small 2 x 2m on both sides I think

I think the general guide on tree roots is that the root spread is as wide as the canopy. You might want to talk to someone that "knows" about it, but I'd have thought a compact Acer wouldn't be a problem - if it's only going to reach 1.5 x 1.5m in 20 years it's more of a big shrub than a tree. Definitely on a different scale to willows and the like as far as problem roots are concerned.

How about herbs in the sunny one? Maybe a bay tree to get some height (again, I don't think the roots are a real problem with these) with rosemary, lavendar and thyme. Rosemaries can get quite shrubby if you let them so would fill up some space, and some of the thymes would happily creep over the patio and not mind being trampled. You could do sage, but that can get a bit big (ditto marjoram and/or oregano - lovely to have but get a bit out of bounds). And if you use them in cooking you do your "pruning" as you go

I also love hardy geraniums - they come in a range of pinks, whites and blues and would sprawl gently over the edge. Just need cutting back hard after flowering to encourage them to do it all again later in the year.

I'd go for lovely smelling things close to the house - lavender, roses, rosemary etc.

Look at the crocus website: www.crocus.co.uk. They have planting plans for lots of different scenarios and budgets which you can download - and you can order all the plants from them in one go too. I used their hot border planting plan and it worked really well, very pleased with the results.