I've never understood why some people love their roses, but think of other thorny plants such as bougainvilla as a completely difficult plant. I find that bougies trained flat against a wall or fence don't require much actual pruning, but do avoid the purple form which is a much more rampant grower more akin to Wisteria or Kiwi vine growth rates. I'm not a fan of single brick bands across such a wide driveway, it is too little detail for the scale. Grasscrete as a driveway material or banding can also be planted out to no-mow ground covers such as Dymondia or Ophiopogon. I would still recommend eliminating that additional concrete around the lawn, and if not fencing to create a courtyard feel, at least some cobination of mounds, screen hedges or raised planters to repeat the long low horizontal lines of the house. The house elevation is just a bit bland, and could really benefit from updated landscape treatment in combination with new driveway treatment. I would understand if this doesn't appeal style wise because it departs from the neighborhood norm, but it would be the approach I'd propose. It just seems like this front space could be greatly improved by designing outside the box.

This is a long thread I just stumbled upon so I didn't do my due diligence and read through all the comments to see if my recommendation was already suggested so please forgive me if it was. I would plant 'American Pillar' Arborvitae along the entire fence line and give it a couple of years. It's cheap (I found them for $7.50 a pop for an order of 100 plants last year), narrow (3-foot at base when mature), tall (30-foot max), fast (3-foot per year, once established), densely evergreen (no see through branches), cold hardy (to zone 3), disease free and long lived (no known problems with a lifespan of it's ancestors measured in centuries). What more can one ask for? Here is a link that might be useful: American Pillar Arborvitae

Yes, you can grow Michelia Alba tree anywhere in the world, but you just have to know how to care it. Get a lot inf. how to grow the michelia alba tree before you purchase it. I have my michelia alba tree grow in my San Francco backyard for more thatn 26 years and it is almost 30 feet tall, and it blooms a lot of very fragrant flowers. Here is the direct link to photobucket on my michelia alba tree album, enjoy! http://s1060.photobucket.com/albums/t459/MickeytheKwok/

"would a bog wet plant area, soak up the excess water?" I would guess that bog plants would grow well there and use all the water they need, but they won't soak up the excess water to a substantial degree as the soil with its water holding capacity is still there, getting fed by excess water from the immediate vicinity. (I realize that you have your reservations, but a pond eliminates the water holding volume of soil, and excess water from the immediate vicinity accumulates there.) Perhaps the following is pertinent. I had a damp (but not soggy) corner in the backyard of my previous property. I heaped a mix of crushed stone, sand and a little topsoil in that corner, sloped and contoured the surface, placed more or less flat rocks on it and created a small (about 150 square feet) rock-and-water garden. Although the highest point of the contoured area is just 1' above lawn level, I was and still am amazed at how dry the entire area became. Again, I am not sure if the rock garden part without water will work in your case. There should be some paper work at the city before they allowed the housing development to go ahead in the wet area, perhaps you should get some info there. I realize that you talked to your neighbours, talk to them some more.