We all gave you nice options in your previous post.

Yes I agree. Someone in another post suggested I post a picture of the front of the house and that others would make design layout suggestions. Plus we can only use waterwise plants. And our lawn is different from some of the suggested layouts before. But appreicated your suggestions very much.

Create a faux 'lawn' with benderboard and different colors bark or gravel with groundcover. Outside the 'lawn' your taller plants.

@tracefloyd thank you so much! I’ve never heard of this. What an interesting idea. What is benderboard? 🤔

Bender board are those long pieces of wood or other material thin enough bo bend into large curves. Buried partway to keep the topping materials in place and make a clean line.

Could also add a row of rock, brick etc. as your edger. Mix it up. Doesn't have to be a lawn shape. Experiment laying out different sections and shapes and what plants to group together in each one.

I'm confused. I just noticed your landscape is beautiful with those pink flowers and steps. Hmm.

That pic was someone’s suggestion. The other pictures I posted are of our house now - just lawn.

Thank you for your ideas and suggestions. Really appreciated 🙏🏼

Oh okay, thats cool.

Check with your water district. Their website may have suggestions about plants and photos for inspiration. Now is a good time to plan. November is a better time to plant.

@Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal) Thank you for your ideas!

All the plants above are considered LOW or VERY LOW on our County Waterwise site.. And these are pics from our neighborhood so I know they will work.

And the Waterwise people gave us permission to plant a Forest Pansy Redbud tree. They also said we could use CA Poppies (even though they are MEDIUM water. They are also everywhere in our o neighborhood)

We used to have a big beautiful ornamental apple tree but we had to remove it because the roots were damaging our plumbing. It was in front of the bedroom windows which are on the right - if you are facing the house.

I would LOVE any ideas for how to lay out some of the plants above.

Thank you again. :)

We got permission to use a Forest Pansy Redbud. Will go in front of the bedroom windows/ (far right if you are facing the house. :)

Also gave permission to use Ca poppies instead of Mexcian.

But now I have to figure out which plants can go under the tree - they won't get full sun. more like partial sun I think.

@Linda Ann - November is better in Zone 10? We were planning for October. But we put our back lawn in in November and it was great!

Ooooh, that's a gorgeous tree!! It is a stunning color.

To me the excitement is all about visualizing what sort of chairs or benches to put under the gorgeous tree. (I don't see many people who actually sit out in front of their homes - but it is such a nice look to have seating. And who knows, maybe you would.)

I can't think of anything useful to say about how to plant the rest of the lawn space, other than that to me, I would stick with just the myoporum and the flax at first. I assume the myoporum is a groundcover? I have seen people use those in a naturalistic/curved shaped around a perimeter of - hmm I can't think of the name just now, maybe it is crushed granite? - a seating area, and that can look very restful to the eye. (I am not sure it is so easy to just put in a groundcover, anyway.)

I like flowers, but most of them only bloom for part of the year anyway, so it might not end up looking the way you want. Maybe just use flowers in the planter areas.

Exception is the lilies - will they let you have the yellow ones? I like those better. Those are nice plants even when not blooming.

I bet somebody will have some good ideas. Killer tree though!

Thank you so much @Need2SeeGreen 10 (SoCal)

I also LOVE the tree. And yes myoporum is for the ground cover. And yes we will have a path with some sort of small gravel rocks. I don't know about the bench or seating area. I think we will have a bench on the front porch so prob won't have two benches. But I like your idea about fewer flowers. And I will check into the yellow lillies.

Going to a nursery with a friend next week. I think I will see which flowers bloom all year long (like the first picture I posted of my neighbor's front yard).

Thank you again. :)

It’s great that you are putting in a lower water use landscape! Flowers are great but don't forget the bones, the plants that add form and year round interest to the garden.

It’s been hard to break myself of the habit of chasing after flowers and ending up with a bunch of 2 foot fine leaved plants. Using some taller growing and different textured plants that look good year round, hardscape and boulders has really helped.

Cacti, agave, yucca, and aloes have really helped our yard but you have even more options where you live and I love new zealand flax but it doesn't love the desert:( You can put boxes, stools, or anything else in your front yard to experiment with how different shapes and sizes look and then find a plant that fits.

Thank you so much @mojavemaria! I'm going to the nursery this weekend. You're right. Our neighbor has a lovely front yard with various shapes and sizes and a few flowers here and there. I appreciate all your suggestions.

Look into stepables.com for hardy, mostly drought friendly ground covers.

Thank you @nancyjane_gardener
We decided to use myoporum ground cover 😃