Im also in zone 9, although in a colder spot (San Joaquin Valley). I have been working on my front and back yards with the ultimate goal of creating a very low-maintenance landscape. You can see my progress so far in the Cacti and Succulents forum. I included the link below. Good luck! Josh Here is a link that might be useful: Succulent Garden Progress

It would be good to post a picture that shows an overall view of the front yard from the street back. It's necessary to see some of what's outside the yard, at its sides. For wide lot, it's best to pan the camera (while remaining in the same position) to show the left, center and right views. (Don't make a panorama out of the photos because it distorts the image too much.) For doing your own design, you should also prepare a to-scale plan view sketch that shows all of the elements (house, walk, drive, trees, shrubs, etc.) that will remain.

Monique, curb appeal doesn't rest primarily on selecting certain plants. It rests more on bed layout, plant forms & sizes, arrangement, organization and adding the right amount of variety. The picture you've provided shows mainly the house. But landscaping -- curb appeal -- has as much more to do with responding to the SETTING as it does with just what's in front of the house. It would be good if you could return to the exact spot* where the first picture was taken and swing the camera leftward in order to show us what's over there. The picture needs to slightly overlap with the existing one. Then swing the camera to the right, slightly overlapping again, and show us what's over there. That way we can see the broad view of the entire front yard. Also, with your truck out of the way, move the camera closer in and take another picture of the front entrance portion of the house (from the garage wall to the fence.) *If you can't return to the exact spot to match the first picture, disregard it and take all new pictures that pan the scene. Any chance on widening the walk that goes to the front door? That would help with curb appeal, too.

I have to disagree with you, Emmarene, that the slope is too large for a single groundcover. A groundcover can be the LAWN where a mowed turf grass lawn is not possible. One must just pick the groundcover that works for such a size. Some "timid" groundcovers work best for tiny places. Some more aggressive groundcovers work well only when the area is large enough, considering that mainly, one is managing EDGES. An aggressive groundcover in a small area would be a constant battle, but in a large area it can be one's best friend ... making ground green when grass can't, or won't, do it. The place to begin is finding out what others in the surrounding area (town/county, etc.) are using to solve the exact problem in their yards. Then one knows it grows in the area and is probably well suited to the size & job. If one groundcover is used predominantly over all others, then it is the groundcover to use. This is not the place to "be different," trying to express one's individuality. This is especially true if there is groundcover in use in a neighbor's yard. It would be an impossible battle trying to keep two different groundcovers from mixing at a property line. If one type of groundcover flows from one yard to the other, then there is no edge to maintain at the property line, making one's list of chores less. As an example, while risking bringing the haters out of the woodwork on account of the mere mention of it, I'll say that if this property was in Atlanta, Ga., the clear cut choice of groundcover would be English ivy, as it is the one in predominant use there for hilly and shady large areas (and some surprisingly small ones, though that is not my taste.) While many froth at the mouth at its mention, it nevertheless proves to be successfully manageable by many. (For me personally when I lived there, I considered it easy to care for, a lifesaver ... more or less worthy of worship on a grand scale, as it was the most versatile, hardest working horse in the barn.) In the typical case, since it commonly flowed from neighbor to neighbor, there was not property line trimming of it. Where it met lawn, many people were happy just to let the lawnmower be the one and only edger. Where ivy grew into the lawn, the regular mowing kept it from being noticeable at any distance. That left the only edging to be done where the ivy met paving. There, it needed to be trimmed a couple times/month during the growing season. One trimming per year kept it from climbing trees if one so chose. At back alleys and buildings, its leading edge could be sprayed with herbicide (such as Round-Up) in order to keep its advance in check. Or it could be manually cut, if one preferred. (Another advantage of it is that it was extraordinarily cheap/free/easy to create massive quantities of it, if one learned some simple propagation techniques.) Insofar as dividing groundcover from lawn, one would mark out all space that is too shady for turf grass to grow, or too hilly for it to be mowed. And then apply some simple art to it in order to come up with a dividing line that looks pleasant. In this case I would leave an "L" shape of grass next to the street and the drive, where it is neither too shady or too sloped. A radius transition between the two legs of the "L" would work well around the tree. The tree would be in the groundcover section, a visually comfortable distance away from its edge. Speaking of the tree, it is well past time to remove the scruffy looking bottom limbs from its trunk. The "shade" should not be hanging down, obscuring any front portion of the house.