At Designer Plants we often help customers with privacy needs. We have products such as our Photinia and Laurel Trellis' that I think might interest you. They are Artificial so they require absolutely no maintenance and they are build to last in the sun - In fact, they come with a 5-year guarantee against cracking and fading. Each screen is 1 meter by 2 meters however they contract and retract from 1 meter all the way out to approximately 2.5 meters. If you're Interested check out our website - www.designerplants.com.au Alternatively you can contact me directly with any questions - aaron.quarrell@designerplants.com.au - and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Good Luck with the project!

So we painted it black to match the other sides of the fence. It needs to be reinforced as its falling backwards but ok for now. I've bought some creeping Ivy to grown over it too and I'll get some boxwoods or similar to carve into spheres or balls.... Also founds some nice light teak / grey bench seats. If really like to do a few vertical gardens here but the fence won't hold it for now so this will have to do. Could be something we add to later. It'll take some time to even look remotely good but we're getting there. At least we have a plan! Thanks all for you suggestions!

Hi Nicole you dont have to spend a lot of money to have a good, thriving garden. The whole landscape industry in Australia, needs regulation. It is out of control in my opinion with ridiculous unsustainable designs that are grossly overpriced. The sustainable way to ameliorate the slope to the house - hard to tell the degree of slope in the photo, is with a bobcat with laser. You may need two flat areas - a top and bottom. The area in-between could be addressed with a curved wall of rocks that would act as the retaining wall. (Much better than a concrete rendered wall that is totally unsustainable). These rocks will then dictate the type of garden, namely a native garden on 2 levels. I would have thought that the drop would only be about 30cm. Is this so as it's hard to tell? I feel that natives would complement your home, including a few trees in the mix. The choice will depend on where north is, and the type of soil that you have. Also where the house is I.e. Qld or Vic. But I would steer clear of any hard landscaping. As a sustainable expert, I also do not use decking other than a verandah attached to the home. We need to learn to do without and manage more efficiently. This way we end up with real gardens full of plants that then attract birds and wildlife. Children in particular love sustainable, proper gardens. Alison

1. have a nice chat with your neighbour about the water from their yard as we're all required to keep our own water in our own yards ...overflow from their tanks should be able to be redirected with a simple hose into storm water..next step ask council for advice 2. anywhere that has recently had a stump ground or has matted old roots will probably eventually sink as underground roots rot away..but can take a long time so in the meantime some more raised beds could look great and cover up a lot of problems more of the steel trough would be good or try making one long raised garden bed with edges about 10cms away from the fence ..pieces of 30cms treated pine to match your edges or scraps of corrugated iron should be OK but not against the fence ..bang steel spikes into the ground or old bricks on either side to hold them in place and then read up on "dig free garden beds" to make a raised garden bed for veges or big strappy plants...many plants will happily live in only about 30cms of soil on top of concrete footpath so forget the tangled roots and occasional flood and make new raised beds on top