I have this project underway, a commercial one with quite a challenging problem. I need the design to be low to no maintenance, formal, and with lots of yearround interest. The space is centred around a central walkway from which one can enter a building, turn right to go to an outdoor patio, or left to walk up an unsightly set of stairs which never should have been built where they are. Nonetheless one of the goals is to soften all this structure up, in other words, hide the underside of the stairs (the major visual obstruction) and the underside of the deck (the minor one).

I'm thinking hicksii yew, a narrow but high and prunable shrub, to cover the undersides that will act as a backdrop to a smaller formal shade garden (i'm thinking rhodos and ostrich ferns) on the stairside and a lower hedge on the right to soften the deck. BTW think zone 5, salt, and low light. Also, I'm using standard pee gee hydrangeas at the entrance to the walkway that would come up through the hedges. I'm dead set on em and perhaps they could be used along the central walkway or at the other terminus. On the stairside the bed is 4' wide by 8' long, on the deck side 8' long by 1.5' wide.

Insights anyone? :) BTW check out the gallery section of the landscape design forum where there is a photo of the site