Flowers around the house

I'm obsessed with the idea of creating a very green space right at home and I guess this has gained an even greater priority since our move to a flat that faces the main road. We not only get to enjoy the fumes of the traffic daily, the sounds these vehicles and yelling drunks produce, the cigarette stench from passers-by has come too annoyingly close for any sort of comfort.
I do realise that I could opt to seal off the balcony like so many of my neighbours have done. Have solid sound-proof windows installed that I can shut at will. But I like my plants and would like to have my own "urban garden" right on the balcony. So while searching around online, I've found really nifty ideas on how to use plants as a shield for privacy, cut back the fumes and really filter out some of the noise.
I hope to share some of these attempts in my blog and convince more to consider having some green in their space too.