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 don't have a design background like many of the folks here do, but I have dealt with a problem similar to yours. I've planted Thuja Green Giant here and elsewhere, and per the name, they get big very fast. Unless your neighbors are on a hill overlooking your property, the thuja are way more than you need. I don't know how their roots would be when they are large, but I believe there would be a risk they would over time start to lift your wall. An inch would be more than enough to crack it. I imagine the frost line there is not very deep? How high a privacy screen do you need? If it's just 12-14 feet, there are many shrubs that would work, with essentially no risk to the foundations of any structures. Plain old forsythia would work. Or do you need an evergreen?

Welcome to gardening! I'll be a bit blunt here, and maybe others will disagree, but I don't think either of those trees are good choices for your situation. Here's why. When you say 7-8' away from the pool, do you mean the trunk will be that close or the edge of the tree canopy will be that close to the pool? That is not far enough away if you mean the trunk. You may be able to find citrus trees on true dwarf root stock that would be okay, but the canopy of a fully grown citrus tree is wider than fourteen feet, and they drop leaves. Can you plant the tree farther away? The olive tree gets far too large to consider it as a possibility. The trunks rise and would impact your decking, and it would be a disaster for your filtration system. They drop a lot of tiny white flowers and yellow pollen. If you got a fruiting olive you would have a purple-stained deck and pool and be bobbing for olives every time you took a swim. They also require a great deal of pruning. The Sunset Western Garden book has a section on trees suitable for planting around pools. You might want to take a look at it to see if anything strikes your fancy. It sounds like you are interested in a Mediterranean theme for your back yard, which will be lovely. Good luck with your project. Renee

Olives are pretty fast growing trees. I planted some liners and some 5 gallon trees. In 5 years the liners had caught up to the 5 gallon size. They were all producing lots of fruit by then. The difference between the 24" and 36" will probably go away in two years time. Olive trees transplant very well. If you are not willing to wait you can have a full sized olive tree transplanted but you will pay a premium price for that. I'm not sure what you would pay in your area but in the Sacramento area in the early 2000's you would pay about $2,000. When we moved from the Sacramento area our neighbor took a few of my mature trees to his house next door. He had a front loader and dug them up and transported them and installed them. He said they had a somewhat lower production the first year but then they caught up the second year. Planting on your berm will help. Our area had nothing but clay so following the orchardist lead in our area I planted everything slightly high to help with drainage. Good Luck.