Unless you're lucky, the neighbors aren't going to put great looking plants where they will enhance your views out of your windows. Or you might not have a neighbor close enough for that to be an option.

I've done some things to improve the view from various windows, but have now cleaned out what used to be a play room to make an office. And now I see that I have more work to do because this view isn't what it could be. My work bench is in the way, blocking the view of some of my fav spots. And I need to clean the window!

Are you planning/planting views for yourself?

Our garden is quite small it's about 85ft long, more than half of it is only 18ft wide as we've a garage and a shed behind it on one side.. The rest is about 30 ft wide, but we've a summer house in the bottom corner.

This is the view from the French windows in our lounge. I designed and built the garden so that it could be enjoyed by my wife who has MS and her mobility progressively got less, to the extent she rarely leaves the house but she has this view from her chair in the lounge.
The furthest patio was formerly a 3000 gallon five foot deep koi pool, I built in 1986, but it started to leak four years ago, so I got a firm to fill it in and pave over it. The only job in the garden I didn't do myself, (I was 79 then, so had the sense not to do it. It took four men five days).



It has several features that only reveal themselves as you walk down towards the bottom.
You can see them in this video.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

The summerhouse hides another of my interests.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

OK, that's what I'm talkin about! Wow! Seeing still shots are not enough to fully appreciate your gardens and incredible view.

I have a lot of shade (thankfully, for the comfort) and a lot of weeds. Considering what I had to start, it's better, but the weeds are winning lately.

Your juke boxes are so cool! You have excellent taste in music. Have they been meticulously maintained or did you restore them?

Thank you very much for the "visit" to your gardens and "summerhouse," a fun nickname for it.

purpleinopp said: OK, that's what I'm talkin about! Wow! Seeing still shots are not enough to fully appreciate your gardens and incredible view.

I have a lot of shade (thankfully, for the comfort) and a lot of weeds. Considering what I had to start, it's better, but the weeds are winning lately.

Your juke boxes are so cool! You have excellent taste in music. Have they been meticulously maintained or did you restore them?

Thank you very much for the "visit" to your gardens and "summerhouse," a fun nickname for it.

Thanks for the kind words.

The summer house is based on photographs in very old books I found in Manchester Central Library, of Victorian country house garden buildings, particularly tea-houses, built by Japanese carpenters, brought over to construct them. Plus a few ideas of my own.

I built it in 1987 to compliment the koi pool.

Likewise, the lanterns. I found this photo of a stone lantern in a book, it's in the Imperial Garden in Kyoto, it's about 300 years old.



So I copied it.



Then got a bit more adventurous.



and then I made the 6ft. pagoda. They are all made from fine concrete mix.

The latter had a bit of a tart up this year, I do it every few years.



There's a lot of lights in the garden, four porch lights on the buildings, two low voltage spotlights, the two lanterns, the summer-house lights up as does the fountain and there's four sets of fairy lights, all controlled by four switches behind the lounge curtains.









The switches are all connected to this consumer unit I installed in the garage, by an armoured cable under the patio. I updated the electrics a couple of years ago.



The jukeboxes I bought on eBay about fifteen years ago. They were in reasonable condition, but needed a good clean and lubrication. They'd both been in private hands for half their lives. The big one (80 45s) is from 1976 and the smaller one (50 45s) from 1969. I hade to re-make the graphic on the small one. I managed to get a replacement for the bigger one for £5. They all go blue with age. In the summer I might take out the carousel motor of the big one and give that a service as it runs a bit slow, But it's a "lie on your back to get at it," sort of job, so I keep putting it off.
They need regular use to keep them working. I play them when I'm gardening.

This is the big one

https://www.youtube.com/watch?...

Lots more videos of them on my YouTube channel (but none of me).

That's all completely awesome! A very successful view out of your windows. : )

The view out of my window. Last summer, cannot wait to see it again this season. The raised bed on the left is going to be removed for different reasons.

Little patch 'o heaven right there. 💚

That's incredible, Newgreen!

Y'all are setting the bar high! My view are much more limited and restricted to propagation, no budget.

This is where I had a work bench until it was moved a few days ago. I'll be sitting by that widow @ my new desk soon, so I'm going to plant my view for that window soon, as soon as I decide.

Tiffany you're so resourceful so I think this will be fun for you. This spot screams for color and reflection. Coleus? Begonias? Can you "shop" you house for anything that strikes you as interesting to look at? Thrift store[or curb shop] cast offs-a mirror hung up on the studs would be great. A bird bath would be another way to add height and dimension. A simple clay or plastic plant saucer would work and the milk crate can be it's base.

Thank you very much for the enthusiastic words! I have plenty of plants but it's just a matter of deciding which would like that spot and I totally agree, the more color, the better!

The milk crate is keeping that Pothos upright until I finish cleaning out what used to be a plant stand table under our carport, but has become stacks of empty pots in the past few yrs.

A bird bath is a fanstastic idea! I have one that could be moved to that area, made out of a big elephant ear leaf.

See good thinking. It should come together with a little work and imagination., My views ar a bit different. The closest neighbor had 3 vehicles in her driveway for years. A beater truck, and a Benz that never worked and her GMC. Finally I convinced her to carve out a flower bed when the truck found a new home. We took peonies from her MIL's house and I gave her some dahlia tubers to plant. That was a nice change! so much better than the cranky red truck. I just see the street from the front windows but the other neighbor has 2 ornamental Japanese Maples to look at. So lush and green. From my bedroom I look out to the side garden because there are no windows to look out back . Lots of LED's all solar so I have them to light up the garden at night. It's kind of magical.

Brenda, I've often thought of putting up some LEDs in the back and string them along the garage. Your post is now really pushing me to do it!

Solar lights are tha bomb! You don't have to remember anything, just keep the panel in the sun most of the day. They turn themselves on @ dusk, off @ dawn. There are plain white, every color, mixed colors, and the bulbs come in so many shapes, like flowers, stars, chili peppers, etc... String lights, rope lights, glowing flowers, for sunny spots. Not as powerful or long-lasting after a cloudy day, but no outlet needed and it's kind of fun to have lights that have "weather" too.

I have some that stay up all year. I was going to take them down but birds keep perching on the wires. Hummers, in particular, to check the sight lines for cats, it looks like to me, but maybe just resting. They need such a thin perch for those micro talons? claws? Not sure the right word.

purpleinopp said: That's all completely awesome! A very successful view out of your windows. : )

Thanks for that.

Of course our very small front garden is designed not for looking out, but more to stop people looking in.

Tiffany, the hummers by me are always using the overhead phone and electric wires just to sit and rest. Or more likely to lord over their domain, check for any intruders and make sure all is as it should be for them. They even like the fatter wires and will sit up there for 15 minutes at a time taking a quick snooze. I'm sure they'd like using the LED strings too, they even sit on the vines that end up draped from the corner hanging planters to the one with the trellis in it, they think it's their own jungle gym.

💚!

Wonderful pics!

I have not taken my LED Christmas lights down-yet. I have them out back too on the pergola where the bird feeders hang. I am a solar light junkie. The more the merrier. My neighbor went with an Alice in Wonderland theme at Christmas and got some really interesting solar lights. Big stems of roses[for the Queen of Hearts] that glow at night and change color. Everything she has is solar. I outlined my property with the lights that push into the ground. I watched for sales at Wallyworld. The entire garden glows at night. Solar color changing bird bath fountains. The lights that look like torches at the entry cause I only have 2[free from the neighbor that moved]. Every year I budgeted for another box. I have a string of Edison bulb lights hanging from the crepe myrtle on the driveway. No surprise visitors out there[except the raccoons]. This neighborhood is not well lit so any way I can deter an unwanted guest I do.

It sounds very pretty!

You probably already know that you can get motion-detector solar spotlights. Those are great for walking through a not-well-lit area and for deterring undesirable people, and if animals are moving around it will light them up. Since they go back off a short time after no more motion is detected, they work well all the time, even during a string of cloudy days or in partly shady spots.