Shrubbery for this side of lawn

[Laurasanford789]

Hello,

I have a long rectangular stretch of lawn in the garden, It needs to be left as it is with enough room to run for my son, however because the path is straight and there is a lot going on on the left raised beds, another border, a bench just can't see it in pic, the right hand side looked very sparse, I have some shrubs by the fence going to add some climbers when I can snap a bargain but on the outer side I've added a few privet shrubs to try and make it look not so sparse, I can't have lavender bushes they always die on me, and I have enough catmint in other area, I'm going to add some low growing thyme to soften up where the bark meets brick but does this look ok with the shrubs here? They are not fussy re pruning so they can be kept at whatever height you want

And please don't mention the state of the grass 😭 it's an autumn job needs aeriating and everything

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I think it looks pretty. It’s fine to have a stretch of lawn without shrubs in, particularly if you have a child who needs space to run around. Privet is usually used as hedging so you will be able to keep it trimmed to a desired shape and size. Maybe trim them to egg shapes? The drawback of having things planted in your lawn is that it makes it harder to manoeuvre your lawn mower around.

You could soften the fence on the right by training trachelospermum jasminoides up it. Evergreen, easy to grow and has masses of fragrant flowers which would be lovely when you are sitting at that table. There have been some new varieties introduced lately with pink flowers / variegated leaves etc.

I'd be inclined to just have a few climbers and maybe next year try growing runner beans that side.

Thank you both, yes I have a couple of climbers on the go on the fence side to soften it, a honey suckle and a jasmine