Hello from a fellow Vancouverite. Do you have a photo showing what is on the other side of the alley? From the sneak peak, looks like you may look onto some greenery? Chance for borrowed views? A fence would be wonderful to give you some privacy and block unwanted views if it's feasible (i.e you don't need to keep access for parking). Are you planning to keep all the concrete? Would be a big job to jackhammer out what you've got there, but it would go a long way to creating more of an oasis. You could use the concrete chunks for paths and/or other features.

Wanted to add - I saw a photo somewhere of long wooden planter boxes on wheels that can provide temporary barrier but also move if need be. This might be another solution instead of a fence between your neighbours. Plant shrubs or back with trellis to grow vines for privacy.

http://www.houzz.com/user/kaillean Glad to see someone from my city :D My backyard opens up to a back alley most of my neighbor park their cars or have their garbage cans in the back so the view isn't really pleasing. My neighbor fixes his cars in his backyard so mostly its filled with broken cars and I want to block that view and create a nice place for me and family to sit and entertain guests. I am thinking of fencing it and maybe have tall trees but i am not sure about the trees i dont want a mess during autumn.

As for concrete I want nice patio tiles but i am not sure what is the price i am looking at for tiles for 15x30' area. I want to keep it low maintenance place so i am thinking of having plants in a pot against the fence bringing in some greenery but at the same time keep it neat and tidy for outdoor dinning area.

If you're going to block the view across the alley, it's going to require some height for the screening. As space is at a premium, you might consider a solution I've recommended many times before ... the suspended trellis: posts spaced at intervals of several feet, connected at the top by swagged chain from which temporary support cords run to the ground as a means for vines to climb on. Depending on the construction and maintenance details, it could be designed so as to be temporarily "openable" even after the vines are in place (should you need wide access to the space later.) The advantages are quick growth (and therefore screening) and that any wound readily heals. While it would be maintained essentially, like a hedge, unlike a hedge it is only 2' - 3' thickness of it's own accord (if a draping kind of vine is used. (You would not want to use a woody rambling vine like wisteria or trumpet creeper.)

It would be nice to delineate the space, and create a little shade with some ambiance by using smaller trees. They could be single trunk flame shaped (like a juniper) or multi-trunk umbrella shaped (like many large shrubs, such as burning bush.) Those could grow in cut-outs in the concrete or in GIANT pots. Keep in mind, being this close to a traffic path, it's always possible for a collision between a car and anything you create. I wouldn't especially want to build something that was easily damaged and costly to rebuild or buy (since the culprit will probably hit and run and it will be in the middle of the night.)

I don't know your climate. Are others using tiles outdoors there in unprotected areas? If they're not, I wouldn't be the first on any sizable project. If they are, then it seems reasonable for you to use them, too.

I lived in a row house neighborhood very similar to your for 12 years and created and maintained a courtyard garden. Does it snow much in Vancouver? I would want a car port if it did, but I see that no one around you has one, so maybe snow is not an issue. I went round and round about fencing for my yard. It creates an oppressive blank surface, but does provide a wonderful enclosed feeling. I had about the same budget as you, so I opted to spend my money on plants and a patio, thinking that I could replace my ugly chain link fence later on, as phase two.

Just as Yaardvark says, my landscape designer told me that I would probably enjoy looking out upon greenery rather than a wall, so I used plants to create a green screen. With limited space like you have, that presents another problem. An evergreen hedge will provide year round screening, but then you have an oppressive green wall that could get just as boring as a fence. If you are not out in the patio area much in the winter anyway, then having a deciduous border will be great for most of your time out there. I had a mix, some evergreens with shapes I loved to cheer me up in the winter, and then mostly shrubs and small trees. My yard was way overplanted but I loved having my little green oasis.

Also, in an urban area, you have to watch out for "vermin" issues. If you plant certain things in your yard, they will just become a magnet for the local squirrels, mice, skunks, etc. For example, I loved the idea of sunflowers growing along my fence, because they create a tall visual screen. But I found out that the squirrels would tear the sunflowers off the tops of the plants and drag them all over the neighborhood and disembowel them on my neighbors lawns, which wasn't going to make me very popular, so I had to nix the idea of a sunflower border after my first year's experiment. They also drug my patio tomatoes all around too, so even though I would have loved a dwarf cherry tree in my yard, I nixed that idea since I knew my neighbors would end up with cherry stains on their patios if I tried that one! Courtyard gardening is very small and contained, almost like your own mini terrarium or bonsai. I experimented with a lot of dwarf plant versions of things. They are out there!

All kinds of trees and shrubs will do well in large containers which you can put on wheels for ease of maintenance. The only downside of container gardening is you have to constantly water, so that can cramp your style if you like to go on vacation a lot. You might want to invest in an automatic watering system on a timer in that case. I scaled down my container plantings for just that reason.

As for a patio, honestly with that small of a budget, I would use the existing concrete as my patio and save my money for a fence. You also might want to buy or build a pergola or some type of awning or shade structure for your patio. It's such a tiny space, you're going to have to decide what your priorities are. I loved so many things it was hard to decide. In the end, I opted for a "viewing garden" realizing that my main goal was to have a nice place to sit and eat outside after work. In fact, I eventually veered the plantings towards white flowers and flowers that were a mix of white and other colors (variegated) specifically because of the way they looked in the evenings, which was when I was usually out in the yard, except for weekends. I added a fountain, which in your small space you might want to consider, they are a lovely way to add a calming natural sound to an urban environment.

Here' a link to photos of my yard's evolving life, which may give you some ideas of what works, (or what didn't, in many cases).The evolution of a courtyard
More yard pics

Below is one of my last pictures of my yard. The red Fireglow Japanese maple died for some unknown reason, got some disease or fungus and just crashed. I would still highly recommend that tree as a patio shade option, and it could be grown in a big pot for quite a while. If you have shade, there are many other smaller options of Japanese maples you could try as well. The little orange thing is our tiny fountain, and the big blue blob was our firewood pile that we used for a little portable fire pit that we would pull out occasionally. Before we got that, there were nice patio chairs there, which looked better and were part of the original aesthetic, but we got so busy we rarely entertained and spent most of our time on the patio swing just trying to unwind after long, long days at work and commuting. The little garden around the fountain was designed for evening viewing from the swing. The "hut" is our attempt at a critter proof compost bin. I suggest creating little "rooms" in your courtyard, based on how you would most like to use the space. Be realistic, you have to pick and choose. My courtyard was a continuing schizophrenic battle between my need for screening and shade, and my love of colorful flowers and herbs. Behind the woodpile was a beautiful climbing scented rose on a trellis, my pride and joy. It's a great example of a simple "green screen."

I was heavily influenced by some ideas from Japanese zen gardens, (even though my courtyard is the opposite of that!) The part that I picked up on is the idea of individual (often dwarf) plants represent entire landscapes or ecosystems, such as a rock representing a mountain, a blue green groundcover representing a lake, one dwarf tree representing a forest, etc. You can create mini montages that way in a courtyard for your viewing pleasure.