The pattern I use around my plaza is flower - tree stump - flower - bamboo. I think it looks super cool and there's not an overload of trees either. You can check out my plaza through my dream address.
I would go Apple-Cedar-Apple-Cedar, because it would look especially good during the wintertime. The perfect apples already look like tree ornaments, add to the fact that cedar trees light up during wintertime and then you got something really nice going on.