Start by Reading the Space and the Sightlines

A courtyard garden is a gift and a puzzle in equal measure. You have walls, shelter and a wonderfully intimate footprint, but you also have neighbours, upstairs windows and that feeling of being watched while you eat your breakfast. Before you buy a single pot, spend a week simply watching. Note where the sun lands at nine in the morning and again at four in the afternoon, and mark which windows overlook you at eye level.

Most courtyards are overlooked from two directions: a first-floor window at the back of the house, and a neighbouring property along one side. Those are the two lines you need to break. Everything else is decoration.

Measure your space properly, in metres, and be honest about how much of it you are willing to give up. In a courtyard of four by five metres, a screen running along one boundary and a cluster of tall pots in a corner is often all the structure you need.

Vertical Screens That Earn Their Keep

Height is the fastest route to privacy, but a solid six-foot fence in a small space can feel like a coffin lid. Aim for semi-transparent screening at roughly 1.8 to 2.2 metres, which blocks sightlines without blocking light.

• Slatted timber screens are the courtyard workhorse. Horizontal cedar or larch slats with a 20–30mm gap let air and dappled light through while cutting the view from an upstairs window. Fit them on battens so the screen stands slightly proud of the wall, and you gain a sheltered microclimate for climbers.
• Climbing plants on a tensioned wire system are cheaper and softer. Trachelospermum jasminoides is evergreen, scented and happy in a warm corner; a climbing hydrangea will cope with a north-facing wall and looks magnificent once established.
• Pleached or raised hedging in containers works where you cannot plant into the ground. Hornbeam and yew clip beautifully into a flat green wall, and a pair of pleached trees framing a doorway instantly feels deliberate rather than defensive.
• Reed or brushwood roll fixed to an existing fence is a quick fix, but treat it as a three-to-five-year stopgap. It silts up, sags and looks tired long before the plants have grown.

If you are overlooked from above, remember that screening near the boundary helps less than you think. A pergola or an overhead beam with climbers running across it does more to shield you from a first-floor window than anything at ground level.

Tall Pots and the Art of the Corner

Containers give you instant height without digging up the patio, and they let you move the privacy exactly where you need it. For a courtyard, choose pots of at least 45cm in diameter — anything smaller dries out in a fortnight and restricts roots to the point where plants sulk.

Group them in odd numbers and vary the heights deliberately. A tall, slim pot with a bamboo, a medium one with a clipped bay or a pittosporum, and a low bowl of herbs creates a screen that reads as styling rather than a barricade.

• Fargesia rufa is a clumping bamboo that stays well-behaved, tolerates a shadier courtyard and gives you a rustling screen in two seasons.
• Photinia 'Red Robin' is reliable, evergreen and quick, though it wants a decent-sized pot and a yearly trim to stay dense.
• Olive, fig or cherry laurel in a large glazed pot brings a touch of the Mediterranean and provides a solid block of foliage at head height.

Stand pots on feet or bricks so water drains freely, and top-dress each spring with a slow-release feed and a fresh layer of compost. In a courtyard, the pot you plant is half the structure — treat it as part of the design, not an afterthought.

Layered Planting From Soil to Sky

The secret to a private courtyard that never feels claustrophobic is layering. Rather than one wall of green, build three tiers: ground cover, mid-height shrubs, and a taller canopy.

Start at the base with ferns, epimediums, Alchemilla mollis and hardy geraniums, which knit the edges together and stop the eye travelling. Bring in mid-height planting at around 60 to 90cm — salvia, Japanese anemones, hellebores for winter, and a good clump of verbena for late summer scent. Then place your canopy: a small tree in a pot, a taller shrub, or climbers trained up and over.

Repetition is what makes a tiny space feel calm. Choose three or four plant varieties and repeat them around the courtyard rather than collecting one of everything. A courtyard planted in a single palette of greens with one accent colour reads as a room. A courtyard full of odds and ends reads as a jumble sale.

Light, Flooring and the Finishing Touches

Privacy is as much about softness as it is about screens. Uplighting a climber or a small tree after dark transforms the courtyard into a private evening room, and warm-toned bulbs make foliage glow rather than glare.

Think about the floor as well. Pale gravel, sawn stone or porcelain paving bounces light into shaded corners and helps a small space feel generous. Add a watertight outdoor rug, a couple of deep chairs and a small table, and you will use the space far more than you expect.

Finally, keep a folding screen or a fabric sail in reserve. For the two or three weeks a year when the garden is overlooked from an unusual angle, having something you can put up and take down is a practical bonus rather than a design failure.

Keeping It Private All Year Round

Deciduous screens leave you exposed from November to April, so make sure at least half your structure is evergreen. Yew, holly, pittosporum, ivy and Trachelospermum all hold their leaves and will keep the courtyard private through the darkest months.

Clip evergreens in late summer, feed containers in spring, and top up mulch each autumn. A courtyard is a small, sheltered, enclosed space, so problems show up quickly — but so do rewards. With a little patience, a vertical screen, three well-chosen pots and thoughtful layering, you can turn an overlooked corner into the quietest, kindest room in the house.