i love bamboo, giant bird of paradise etc but do NOT put next to your pool. In our last build we used Zanadu. Big leaves that do not drop and bullet proof. Perhaps find another way to cover the fence other than plants that almost always drop their leave and have invasive roots.

Any imported soil will cause problems with the longevity of plants that you choose. You are always better off working with the existing soil on the site. Because of changes, I would suggest that you consider getting a professional in to have a look at that site. You have a slope towards the fence which is going to cause a problem and the garden bed that you have constructed only looks as though it is about 50cm wide. This is nowhere near wide enough to get any plant to grow to fence height. Unless you grow bamboo which is expensive and wont like the imported soil. And even then this plant will increase beyond 50cm - even the clumping forms. As for the Chinese Elm - these can become massive trees. Taller shrubs, like Callistemon pallidus could have the stems trimmed and retain the canopy and being native will be more tolerant of soils and conditions. Professional advice is needed here. And get an older person who has had years or experience and is a horticulturist.

It always makes my heart sink when a client asks for a "no-maintenance" garden. It tells me they really don't care. In truth, any planting needs a certain amount of care. Plants, like animals, need care. It's true that they're slower than animals to respond to deprivation, but respond they do. And it's not a good look. You might not have a lot of time, or you may not be physically up to a lot of gardening. That's fine - you can choose plants that require a minimum of care and grooming, and if need be hire somebody to do that minimum. But it does require planning. A gardener actively engaged with their garden can (and will!) experiment, try new things, move plants around, notice when things are going right and wrong, and for them a garden is never finished. Contrast that with somebody who wants a garden they don't want to work in or at. They want a garden that is more or less "finished" the day it is installed, rolled out like a stretch of lawn and meant to "behave", to stay static. I can't do a garden like that! Plants grow! They change, the environment around them can change, and what might have succeeded one year is not going to do it the next. It is entirely usual for a planting that just nicely fits a situation to need complete re-planting a few years on because the individual plants have outgrown the site. That's work! It is entirely usual for plants to flower, and for those flowers to set seed and die off. It is entirely usual for some plants to shed leaves as part of their yearly cycle. This "mess" is treated by non-gardeners as a crisis, as a nasty surprise, as something the plants "shouldn't" do. Because it makes work. Well, sorry, but no garden consultant can change the laws of nature. If you want a garden, you've bought work, and if you don't want to do it, you're going to need to pay somebody else. That's fine. Just don't ask for what you can't have.

My piece of advice would be to make sure the plants you select can tolerate being around a pool. This will definitely be a 'splash zone' so any plant species that will get damaged or not cope with salty or chlorinated water. As an example, I have seen a beautiful row of Black Mondo Grass that suffered greatly from the pool water and died. Also be mindful of the size of plants you might be planting close to your pool. Plants with invasive roots or large palms can cause damage to the strucutre of your pool so their locations should be carefully considered. Good luck!