How to quickly transform this to an evergreen private courtyard garden

[blueshedhermit]

Sadly can't have a lawn or put up fencing or trellis (housing association) so will need to have a container garden and planter trellis (moveable). Back of the house faces West, yard is 22 feet (East to West) and 19 feet (North to South).
The South facing wall is 6 feet tall, but the other two walls are about 5 and a half feet.
Neighbours on each side, and completely overlooked by houses at the back.
Wish List:
Writing shed- can't decide whether to face South(sun) West (facing away from the house but would need aerial cover from houses opposite) or North (less sun but would give instant privacy on one boundary)
Table, chairs and parasol (south/west facing with planting for screening)
Small tree - huge planter, off centre to give dappled shade and aerial cover
Height and enclosure - screening shrubs and climbers, ivy and foliage
Basically to fill 90% of the available concrete space
Live in the North, so very cold in winter!
Fast growing hedges/climbers/shrubs/plants

Shrubs/hedging: Portuguese laurel is evergreen and fast growing, as are fatsias. Also yew and conifers.

climbers: clematis armandii, star Jasmine are evergreen.

consider also a hardy palm like trachycarpus fortunei for your big pot - also evergreen.

japanese maples do well in pots (not evergreen, but choose some with bark colour for winter interest, like sango kaku).

Right now I’d say sow some morning glories in pots for instant growth this summer. They cost little and germinate very quickly. Likewise nasturtiums, they can be trained to climb and will reach 2m+ given support.

You may want to invest in a pot irrigation kit if the whole garden is in pots. Personally I like watering them, but not everyone feels that way. Or choose drought tolerant plants. Pelargoniums look good in pots. Large euphorbias would look good in a sunny courtyard.

Impossible to visualise without a diagram Op! You know the rules
Shed placement is important. Remember it will cast shadow so I’d make sure it blocked as least light as possible.

Trees are great. I have a birch tree in a pot . Small leaves so looks in proportion but deciduous so let’s light in when the leaves drop, Pencil thin cypress tress look smart and evergreen.

Edited to add someone on the estate had this sort of garden - you got a tiny oblique view but it looked marvellous. Lots of big leafy plants and small white clematis.

Can you get some of the trellis with faux ivy on for this year, you can remove it as your real climbers take a hold.

I have a bombproof fatsia japonica in a pot - they are happy with shade, lovely and jungly. I regularly forget to water him, he doesn't seem to care - about 6ft at the moment (it is a very big pot).

Thank you! This is exactly what I needed!
I keep thinking about fatsia, so that has helped me identify a jungly plant!
I have a lovely star jasmine which needs repotting and training up a wall, and love clematis so will look into armandii as well
Are birch trees especially tall? Not sure how to ensure it doesn't get blown over-I hadn't thought about a palm, but that is gorgeous!
Laurel seems to be a good choice, how far from a boundary wall would it need to be placed, please?
The shed is a real dilemma, I finally have space for a big one-I quite like the idea of it facing west with its back to the house for privacy, but would need tree cover along the back wall as the houses opposite would have a birds' eye view!
I've attached a photo, to give an idea of the blank canvas!!! 😂

Laurel is tough - I have a Portuguese laurel hedge in my front garden and they are growing within 30cm of a brick wall.

If you like jungly plants, come join us on the tropical/jungle gardens thread, you may get good ideas, many of us grow lots of things in pots.

Given all your walls are white, I think climbers are an excellent idea, they will bring instant greenery and depth. Look for passiflora (passion flowers) at the supermarket, they only cost £3 but can grow 8m in a summer - this will bridge the gap while your evergreen climbers establish. Are you allowed to screw in vine eyes on your walls? Then you wouldn’t need to buy lots of trellis, which is going to be expensive.

Also depending on how much you want to spend, tree ferns (dicksonia Antarctica) are perfect for large pots. Buy the tallest you can afford as they grow very slowly.

If buying a palm, patience is a virtue - if you get a small one that has been grown in a pot, it may sulk the first year but will then take off and double in size after three years. Whereas if you splurge on a large one, it can take years for them to recover from transplanting so they grow really slowly.

What a blank canvas!

Obviously plants grow towards the light and I guess the sun drops early because if the houses?
Why would you have the shed facing away from the house? Doesn’t that mean your view will be walls?

You'll want large and cheap planters and I thought this idea was brilliant and looked very good: filing cabinet planter.

I've been looking for cheap planters on Temu (I know!) but this is genius, there were some old filing cabinets on my local Facebook last week, so will keep my eyes peeled!
The shed is doing my head in (and I won't even be able to buy one until prices have dropped in late autumn) but I crave privacy-I thought one option would be to have it facing away from the house to feel separate and not to be able to see the house and being in a very densely planted area at the end of the yard, but would need a tree or arbour or jungle plants to provide height and spread to blot out the houses opposite. Maybe it would be more sensible and cost effective to have it parallel to a wall then plant the garden round it for privacy.
Off to look at the tropical/jungle gardening thread -all your ideas are brilliant, so thank you!

4ft from the house on the left had side get a 6ft planter with trellis place at right angles to the fence. 8ft from the house on the other side of the house place a 8feet planter also at right angles. This will shield the back wall and give you a meandering walk down the garden. Plant evergreens pyracantha, honeysuckle. Virginia creeper again the back wall.

I reckon you could build some raised planters straight on the concrete base. Obviously if you move you will have to either leave them there but I can't imagine anyone would mind and if not, it's probably not that difficult to remove them.

I've been looking for cheap planters on Temu (I know!) but this is genius, there were some old filing cabinets on my local Facebook last week, so will keep my eyes peeled!

Glad you think it's useful, I thought it was a brilliant idea but I don't need any planters. There's loads on ebay as well for very cheap prices so between that and FBMP you'll be sorted.