Red berm that's very interesting for i appreciate the chemistry behind it but one must remember that olivine being a non-living thing will only absorb only so much CO2 then it's done. An analogy : A sponge (per its size) can only soak up so much water. Tree's & plants thru photosynthesis get rid of CO2 by converting CO2 back to oxygen. But even that process is not perfect, for after a tree dies and falls it starts to decay releasing CO2 back to our atmosphere w/out further producing oxygen (e.g. burning wood for heat produces CO2 & CO...oxygen is not perserved in this case for oxygen is needed to burn the wood. Ideally: Plants surrounding the fireplace shall convert the CO2 back to oxygen as fast as the fireplace converts the oxygen to CO2

Lovely area! You have done a great job! Just a thought i would have put decking to one side and only had one side with stone and plants as putting the decking in the middle looks like a runway. Just my opinion. Black stone would look great instead of white. And painting the back bricks would have been better with a darker colour to make timber "pop" like the colour of your fence or black like the posts. Loving your ideas and transformation is fantastic!

Tell me about it, the ones across the road were going all day and night in the front yard, including revving up a motor bike they're not allowed to ride! my hubby wears flannie shirts when he's not in work gear. He likes ripping them, that's a trend that should end. of course, all Australian flag thongs (flip flops) are made in China!

No plant is going to survive being trodden on or broken apart. The best you can do is choose something fast growing so that if it does get broken it can recover from it. You can also place some larger bush rocks in the beds between the plants to deflect errant balls. Most shade plants are not fast growing which is half the problem. You will really struggle to find a plant that loves full sun in summer and full shade in winter that isn't deciduous. The light provision is so radically different across the year. Your best best might be a strappy leaved plant that isn't going to show up the damage so much. Freesia's are very cheap to buy, $10 will get you hundreds of bulbs and you will have a wonderful fragrant floral display in the spring. A mass planting of freesia's and river rocks would be stunning in those beds and very easy care.Many varieties of iris will also work there. The Japanese iris is particularly prolific and tough and lovely in spring. Star jasmine might also suit this spot although it will look a little sad in winter with the lack of light. There is also a lovely version that is tricoloured. Lomandra/liriope will tolerate both full shade and full sun and will be your best bet for robust year round architectural interest although it isn't highly floral. Another stunning and cheap option is gaura, a grasslike plant that produces a profusion of flowers all the warmer months. The bonus is this plant can be purchased in a punnet of 6 and grows so quickly and is almost impossible to kill. It comes in pink and red too. Camellia sasanqua's will work in this spot they can tolerate that kind of light variance and are fairly robust but I would only put them in containers not in the ground so their roots do not disturb your pavers or foundations. Sasanqua's can grow very large but they do make great floral hedges that flower in the autumn and winter. Their floral colours range from white right through to the deepest reds. Japonica's won't work here because of the sun in summer. If you purchase sasanqua's from a landscapers nursery rather than a retail one, you can get fairly large starter plants as cheap as $6 each. You 'might' also get away with the acacia cognata which is a weeping wattle that appears as a lovely feathery clump low to the ground. While it's small it's not very different to a clump of grass. As it gets larger it develops a woody stem and branches. They are about $15 for a decent sized plant but you would only need 2 or 3 to fill that space. Place river rocks over the dirt while they are little. You can then put a weeping cherry, or rambling rose in pots in that space to make it stunning in summer. Rambling roses are great as once established you can cut them right back to the trunk in winter and they will cover your wall again each summer, they are very vigorous in their growth and you will have a wall of colour and perfume in the warmer months and no care required over winter. By growing feature plants in large pots, you can place those pots on a dolly and wheel them out of the way when the boys want to play basketball so they don't get damaged. Fruiting tree's will also work there in containers since you get so much sun in summer. A cumquat is a lovely smaller ornamental that offers fruit for making jam or squeezing onto a salad like lemon. The possibilities are endless. Most of all enjoy your garden.