I agree with Fiona about the Ficus - they have shocking root systems and should never be used near pools, houses etc. The width of your retaining wall from the photo looks really narrow, so you are going to have trouble growing most things in there; even the Pittosporums will eventually cause structural damage to the walls. The width of any garden bed should be ideally 1.5 metres at least for proper root establishment. This seems to be hard for most people to understand, but the bigger the plant, the wider the root system. So either widen the retaining wall or you will need to keep the plant lower. The pears mentioned also will never work. 5 years is the testing time of a good garden. When first planted they can look great, but they often break down as they grow. The Ficus and Pears' root systems will keep on expanding after the 5 year period with the Ficus having surface roots that cause massive damage to paving, concrete etc. Google it! And I have seen first hand the damage done by another Landscaper's work, based on inexperience. Get professional advice if in doubt - it is worth it if you get a good one. Alison

A nice invasive running bamboo would be the ticket to isolation. Where are you worried about it invading - your neighbor? When it invades your gravel areas, you cut out the running root, big deal. If you built a wall, you would have to maintain that, would you not? I am renting a house that is less than ten feet(3 m) from the highway right-of-way, but about another 20'(about 6 m) from the actual roadway, which is about 5' (150cm) above my first floor. As the road curves, it passes both first and second floor bathroom fulll-size windows, yeh. Bamboo to the rescue! We are saved by the lovely self-sustaining bamboo. No fertilizing, no watering, just an occasional clipping of its toenails, each spring. It doesn't soften the sound of the Harley's though. To keep the bamboo from crawling out of its crib, install a galvanized or aluminum edging that goes down 6-12'(15-30 cm) to contain these babies from escape. And let the neighbor go back to Dungeons & Dragons or Sesame Street for their entertainment.

I had a similar situation. Part of my fence is slat & & part is cap & lap. To cat proof it we put silver grey polycarb on the top half & i painted the slat to watch at the front. I was going to paint the cap & lap but as my builder pointed out, it will silver with age & the plants will grow up to hide a lot of it plus once you paint it has to be repainted every 8 to 10 years not to mention the expense. It is bugging me to look at this half pine wood half polycarb fence until it silvers but he makes a good point. I guess it comes down to money & what you can live with.

I have one of those Monika and I would venture to say that you wouldn't be able to cut it flat because with everything around everywhere having the waved top it would look really odd I think, and I doubt whether you would be able to paint it at least until the development is well over or you could find the developers all over you, along with residents who like yourselves have signed to agree to the covenants. A lot of people enter into these developments because there is a better chance of people looking after their properties however I will say that I am the only owner occupied in my part of the street, and I am forever weeding everyone else's garden, picking up the rubbish blown from the sea breeze on new builders not looking after their rubbish and the renters chucking empty beer bottles where they have sat on the steps drinking and throw the bottles into the garden and I actually water the rental alongside me as our gardens join, as yours probably does, and they refuse to water it. I want my place to look nice and if left to these renters it would look like homeless shelters. I think the tall pots and something like the black bamboo could look really good :)