I have small palm 'tree's in blue glazed pots. Around the bottom of the palm, in the pot, I've planted vinca and purple wave petunias. They stand about 4 feet tall and are easy to take care of.

Not only are they pretty, but the palms waving in the breeze add movement. Love them. Get compliments all the time.

That said, you're in San Diego so you probably already have palm trees? But here in Michigan, they're quite the novelty.

Can you build sturdy trellis' to camoflauge the equipment and to grow some colorful vines on?

Colorful umbrellas and a couple of pillows thrown on chairs would be an easy way to soften up the area, too.

Try this.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

LOL they better have a no diving sign!

We had a huge concrete expanse that I wanted to camouflage, too. Our problem was a little different, as we could see our rear-load garage and huge parking pad from the pool with just a wrought iron fence in between. We went with big fiberglass/resin pots from Walmart that look like glazed terra cotta because I needed a bunch of them and couldn't afford (or have a place to store over the winter) real terra cotta. They look amazing! I want to get a few more for next year and relocated our deck box. We did the potted palms with blue daze and million bells and I think they look awesome (again, in Oklahoma, palms are a little more rare than in San Diego.)

I think if you have a fence you should look at attaching planters to it and going vertical with some plantings. Google image search for "planters on fence" and you will see tons of ideas. I've seen lots of people use old gutters for this, but it depends on what your fence can hold and your aesthetic as to what will work for you. I recommend setting up a timer/drip system for pots, as ours would have died long ago if we didn't have that in place.

Think about using upholstered/cushioned outdoor chairs and lounges and an outdoor rug to further soften things up.

A few more pictures coming...

Another one