Ah yes, that helps. The idea of the roses doesn't appeal to me. That might be just because I'm not a rose person, but also it seems to me that wind would be most bothersome in winter when the rugosas would have no leaves - wouldn't evergreen be better? Also, if kids are going to play there, I'd sooner they just jumped or at worst (if their parents can't watch them:-)) fell without getting caught up in brambles. A weeping juniper, I suppose a blue rug type, would look fabulous spilling down the wall, and something taller behind it would look more natural, and visually lower the wall better, than something tall right next to it.

i recently built a dry stack circular stone wall around a large pin oak in my yard the wall is 32 inches at its highest point. I am worried about the roots of the oak pushing upward on the wall and destroying it, although i did do some intense labor around the areas where the roots were the most visible. I purposely postioned the rocks in these areas in such positions that there is room for the roots to grow before touching the stones........... time will tell.

It's a little late now, but if you'd centered the middle of a tile instead of a grout joint, you would've eliminated that skinny little piece on either side, and still stayed centered. That aside, it looks good so far! Ivette-- I'm getting an education right now with respect to balloon construction! The one thing that almost stopped us from buying the house was that back side of the house bows (I would guesstimate) about 6-8" from the middle to the two corners. When I first saw it, I thought the house was getting ready to collapse until someone explained that with balloon construction, that's SUPPOSED to happen! Boy didn't I feel stupid!! I'm learning, though!

So just a quick update.. I spoke to the builder and the fence crew.. Fence guy says he highly recommends not putting the fence between the wall and neighbors property.. He was concerned with the space but also said that if he puts the fence and "raises" it on the post it will not look right.. He recommended putting the fence on top and behind the wall.. Well here is the new problem.. Builder obviously said that he does not want to move the wall.. He said that it was my decision to put it there and if I want it moved I would have to pay the cost to move it which is two days of manpower consisting of three guys and also the use of the excavator.. He didn't give us a price but the last time he gave a price for his excavator it was around 1k for some trench work.. So I am going to assume he would want 2k to do the wall over.. The wall would get moved about 1ft closer to the neighbors property but still give them an extra 6inches more then they are supposed to have.. I am not sure if its worth the money to gain the extra 1ft of space along that side.. Right now we are losing 1ft on a 80ft run.. One of the big concerns is that I have seen this exact same issue come up in the past where people had a space like this that the neighbor took over without them knowing and was using it for YEARS.. And when they went to sell the house there was a problem as the neighbor claimed the property was his and had been using it for X amount of years.. I know everyone was in a court battle but I dont know the end result.. I just remember being told that the neighbor actually had a valid argument since they were using it for X amount of years and were never told not to..