I want...

I want a barrier down the side of my front garden. No fence possible, conservation area and HA has refused permission. No hedge as too much hard work for us. So I thought big tubs with some sort of tough hardy stuff. Asked for suggestions before but couldn't get anything I liked so asking again if that's ok. Here is a pic of the area:

 

Conservation area???
What is there left to conserve? It's basically a dead wasteland (no offense).

My idea would be the same as yours. Set up a few planters and put bushes inside. No idea if it would make it more liveable or just harder to park the cars though...

My second suggestion would be to hammer a few tent pegs into the ground, set up some wires from there to the corner of the house and let some climbing plants grow alongside them (preferably in a pot, since there ist no soil).

 

I added a few pictures from the wiki. Imagine the blue column as your wall, and fasten the cables with a metal anchor into the ground (just hammer a steel rod in there). Boom, instant climbing aid for little money.

Cable-stayed bridge - Wikipedia

 

I know! The bought houses have wee fences about a foot high, just silly looking things - but we're HA and they said not allowed at all. I feel like it's not a proper garden, and the kids next door play football and sometimes the ball hits the car. I want some sort of definition around it.. like the idea of wires and climbers - very good I could maybe get some planters with trellis on and extend the height with wires, if I keep it tidy. TY.

 

And if none of the neighbours come home late from the pub and get decapitated...

 

shiney are half barrels easy to get hold of? They would look more substanstial than the wee cheap planter thingies but I'm not sure where I'd get them. Would work though.

 

You can try the distilleries direct to see if they have spare barrels. There is a Diageo bonded warehouse near Edinburgh.
I got 6 of the biggest barrels you can get for not a lot of money from them. They had kindly pinned the hoops so they don’t fall down when the barrels get a bit dry.
You had to chainsaw them in half yourself ,not a big deal and one of the most pleasant experiences of my life! The aroma of whisky mixed with oak and brandy ( what had originally been in the barrels) was absolutely gorgeous plus there was a substantial dram in each of the barrels. A very happy hours work.

Here are a couple of the barrels, maybe too big for what you want but they have smaller ones too.If you plant tall growing lilies in them you will get about a 10 ft barrier in total altho the stray footballs might not do them any favours. You could plant Box ( slow growing so little maintenance) maybe the middle of the tubs and have bulbs for some colour round the outside.

 

A row of something like these, with some paving slabs on the lower tier to prevent them blowong over

 

@shiney
I just loooooove that picture with the lilies. I sooo hope to have something like that in the future

 

My bad. Guess I slipped

Will you please forgive me @hailbopp and teach me the secret of your lilies?