Remove and replace with something more in scale for that placement and more suited to the AZ xeric plant palette. Any local garden center should have numerous choices.

@gardengal48: That's the plan. As our temp is now over 100 daily, this was a first phase. In the fall I'll be:

-Removing the lawn as that little kidney shaped grass plot will be drinking 1200 gallons monthly in the summer.
-Darker landscape rock with decomposed granite outter border.
-Palo Verde Tree in the center.
-Mixed drout tolerant items like Deer Grass and so on.
-Add low voltage landscape lighting.
-French drain winding thru the middle with 4-6" river rock topping it.
-The terrain I'll be rolling mounds with strategically placed 12-20" stones matching the dark 1-2" landscape rock.

I'm excessively DIY however I need to find a local independent landscape architect to draw up the plans. The prices I've seen from landscaping firms just for drafting more than my thrifty self is willing to spend.

I must submit formal plans to HOA.

+@+@+
If any landscape architects read this who have an affinity for Desertscape, message me.
+@+@+

-Darker landscape rock with decomposed granite outter border.

==>>> i dont do this type of garden.. and i dont know AZ ... but i can tell you.. dark rock retains heat deep into the night.. further complicating your hot situation .. so i might think you ought to stay away from such .. discuss with a local person ..

usually.. night is a cool period.. for plants to recover from the onslaught of the day .. but if your raocks hold that heat into the night.. you reduce such ...

all that siad.. it was 35 here in MI the other night.. so.. i would love a hundred degrees fro a while.. lol ..

ken

ps: oh.. and thank god you got rid of those dinosaur old shrubs... and the news add nothing to the stunning architecture ... and thats my vote per your request ...