My other bush of Rhodys, taken today, I'm on top of the steps, it's about 6 ft. I've cut them back each year, they were huge when I moved in. Not good to have huge bushes near the house if there's a bushfire. The first bush has finished flowering. It's a hotter pink.

Don't plant the giant bird of paradise in this small bed. Fantastic plants and have used them at our house. They will grow so big and destroy your paving. I have also used clumping bamboo and my wife hates it due to the mess it makes. Constantly dropping leave etc. Would not plant near a pool for this reason. Another negative comment. Bougainvillea should never be planted in the ground. Lovely flowers but get our of control, dangerous spines and almost impossible to kill. Keep in a pot and keep trimmed. We put Xanadus next to our pool at our holiday house. Perfect size and clean. Consider other ways to hid the fence. Perhaps some type of bamboo screening??

It's always tough trying to find a hedge that will grow in sun and shade, especially when you want a uniform look. Having said that, it isn't uncommon for designers to use a couple of different species - for example one species to boundary fences with another to the front fence. I'd consider lifting the canopy of the existing trees to let light in for more even growth across the hedge, however I'd still expect it to be a bit uneven due to the varying conditions throughout the garden. Viburnum tinus is a good pick for both a sunny position and a shady position, it will eventually get to 2m height and can be kept as low as 1m. If this isn't large enough, you could also try Portuguese laurel, (Prunus lusitanica) which will get to 4m easily enough. Both of these aren't particularly fast growing, but with adequate water and food they should be good for your situation. Murraya is another one that will tolerate sun and shade, though not frost. You won't get as many flowers in shady positions, and it may look a bit straggly. Your local nursery may be able to advise on what is readily available. When you plant, preparation and ongoing care is going to be important as it look as though you have a few plants that the hedge will have to compete with as it establishes (your neighbours conifers and your pears). Digging a good wide planting hole, plenty of organic matter mixed with the back-fill, as well as regular watering and feeding until the plants get established. Much as the Flower Carpet Roses are tough (especially the original pink), I wouldn't recommend planting roses in anything less than 4 hours of direct sun a day. You'll end up having issues with blackspot and mildew, and they're not going to give you the neat box look that you want. Flower Carpet Roses (Tesselaar Roses) are a good tough rose, however some colours (cultivars) are tougher than others. Pink is one of the best performing varieties, and as suggested, reaches a bit more than the height on the label. That may not be true of all the different colours though. Be careful propagating any of the flower carpet roses, only ever for yourself as they are rigourously protected either with trademark names and/or Plant Breeders Rights, making it illegal to sell the propagated material under the flower carpet name, or at all (in the case of PBR). Good luck!

Thanks to everyone for your fantastic answers and voting in this poll series. This was a tricky one and we'd like to congratulate Anne! Anne, please look forward to receiving an email shortly from the Houzz team. Don't worry if you missed out on the occasion, stay tuned for more competitions coming up. The Houzz team.