I am so NOT one of these great pros who have contributed on this thread, but since I live in a somewhat similar zone (I'm East Bay/Oakland hills so similar to much of the SoBay), I thought it might help the OP if they could see what a couple of the plants suggested look like on a retaining wall. There is one plant I didn't see, but I think might do well in this situation - aptenia "Red Apple" evergreen groundcover. It's rightly listed as invasive, but I have found that although it will spread "out", it vastly prefers going "down" due to the weight - once those stems get long, they're heavy and it pulls the plant to trail down. I have been surprised to find it does not root as readily along the stem as one would think (based on its invasive designation). Easy to keep under control with minimal pruning, very easy to remove. I have aptenia in two spots and in the location that isn't shown, it goes happily down a wall as far as it's got room, but only needs to be pruned back maybe twice a year on the flat side. It is much prettier than ivy and needs almost no summer water (like 1 gall per month in summer). Note that the cute red flowers attracts bees; some people find this a disadvantage. Me, I'm all for anything that keeps bees alive and happy, so this doesn't bother us. My wall is smaller, but the lantana shown (both white and purple) are in a very narrow planter box. Due to its lightweight stems, lantana is as prone to go "outwards" as it is "down". It is easy to prune - stems are brittle so they just break off. Because even trailing lantana mounds, it tends to die underneath. I have found this to be mildly annoying as a clean-up task every year: dusty and messy, LOL. Anyway, retaining wall 2001: Retaining wall plants 2004 (they don't look any different now, since I keep them pruned to stay off the driveway). LH side is the aptenia - a single stem can easily get to 5' or more. The purple lantana is in the middle, with the white lantana to its right. Both of these would easily reach the middle of the driveway if I didn't keep them cut back. I have to agree with the negative on clematis. It's a 1 month flower wonder in the Bay Area, and butt-ugly six months out of the year. I planted one and will never bother again. Hardenbergia 'Happy Wanderer' is gorgeous - two full months of purple racemes. But I did find the evergreen leaves a rather dull dark green the rest of the year. This is a big, heavy, aggressive vine. I had to take mine out because it started to travel over the fence and the neighbor hated it. It was a pretty little thing at 2 years old.... ...but only a year later, see that "hump" in the back? The hardenbergia was almost half as big in her yard as it was in mine, smothering her Bird of Paradise and euonymus shrubs: If you don't mind regular watering, there's nothing more fun than passiflower - after a few years you'll have Gulf Fritillary butterflies dancing in the sun for 6-7 months. It needs a grid of some sort, though, it needs something to hold onto to go sideways. I have both the coral and the standard purple passifloras. The GF prefers the purple very slightly over the coral, but I think the coral is much more gorgeous. This is a big vine (estimates up to 30'; I keep mine around 15') but it is very tough. I almost killed it when the planter box it's in didn't get watered while we were away on a trip. A heat spell hit and the passiflora shriveled down to a single stem of tiny leaves. It's recovered completely and is back to its big bully role once again. There's a lot of dead undergrowth to the passifloras over time, but not as bad as the lantana. There is one other evergreen vine I use but I wouldn't recommend it - Solanum jasminoides. Carefree and needs little water, but it gets super thick/dense very quickly and really requires heavy-duty cutting back once a year or it goes out of control. In the right location, however, it definitely fills a need. This is what S. jasminoides looks like less than 7 months after being cut back to a 1" height. Fair amount of dead-leaf litter underneath. This one lives entirely on runoff going underneath the house. I never water it at all: The flowers are beautiful, though, and it flowers almost continuously: I have the star jasmine groundcover in my furthest back yard area. It twines with big thick stems like ivy does, and with its mounding growth is, like ivy, a roof rat palace. Doesn't take much water, smells wonderful, prefers bright shade but I've had it in partial sun conditions where it did very well. Anyway, hope the visuals help.

At the risk of being bannished, bashed, or labelled as a spoiler, I would be very hesitant to build any patio on top of that wall for safety reasons. If you really want a patio for people to sit on and add ammenities it really needs to be structurally sound. You asked for my opinion directly and I gave it to you based on the information that you gave me. As you said, a picture is worth a thousand words. That wall is clearly not on a solid footing (might have concrete under it but the stones are not solid near the bottom) and very crudely fit together. It might not fail, but the consequences of personal injury is very high should it fail. Its one thing to use a wall like this to neaten up the site and add a nicer aesthetic with a consequence of having fill and rocks rolling down the hill. It is a whole different story when you add a person or persons to the rocks and fill rolling down the hill. If you really want to have the patio, you really should have a structurally sound wall. This is precisely why a wall over 48" requires a structural engineer in most states. Some require structural engineers for shorter walls. It has nothing to do with whether they are part of the building or not. It is because of the risk of personal injury if such a wall fails whether it is next to a house, below a patio, or next to a path in the woods. If some teenagers go there when your not around and that wall lets go for whatever reason, you'll be in trouble. Its like having a couple of beers and driving home, you might be alright, but if someone else hits you you are toast.

We have finally been making some great progress!!! Right now we are working through interior trim, and the exterior is getting closer to complete. Stone is done and is having the grout done! Hope to be starting the finishing coats of stucco next week!!! Then we can move on and pour our stamped concrete pool decking- as well as the stamped turn around by the garages! We are hoping to be in by the first or second week of August even though our contract with our builder says July 29th move in date (yes it was in writing- silly on his part.) Side note- We are planting our 500 grape vines on Sunday! We also got offered a Co-Op for a local winery. We are considering it!! :-) Front stone going on! (dont have a finished picture of the porch yet sorry :-( ) Garage doors after install! Working on grout on the stone on the back of the house!! Covered porch framing finally finished- cant wait for them to come back and case the columns on the back porch! We decided to do a cedar tongue and grove stained porch ceiling on the front and back porches. :-) Grout complete on the carriage garage. We did a dark charcoal and I think it looks amazing! Pool ready for the hot tub and stone on the block wall for the hot tub and ready for the stamped concrete to be poured! Cabinets going in! Love the detailing on the hood! Espresso stained Island- the front will have espresso stained wainscoting with an 18 inch over hang and corbels /posts Entry way ceiling painted! Wainscoting in the upstairs hallway going in! Can't wait to see it painted- our trim is SW Creamy! Tray ceilings in the hallway with the crown in! (dont mind the miss matched doors- some of ours were not complete yet and they sent a filler to set the door! and it drives me nuts!) Site built steps started going in! Only the basement has been done so far! Crown going in the bedrooms! Everybody's homes look fantastic!!!! So jealous of those who are further along!!! :-)

Oh my ..... my blood is rushing and I'm squealing with delight! SquirrelHeaven, it looks great! With those changes it adds so much to the front. I am loving it and glad I broke away from my initial idea of the bricks. I especially love how you "finished" the hedge along the circle drive with the boulders and the lights on the pillars. The look is very appealing to me. We have oodles and oodles of big and smaller boulders after digging our basement so this would be the perfect opportunity to use them. My husband offered a suggestion to use various size rocks (limestone or red granite?) as a retaining wall on the edge of "boulevard" months back. I was never fond of the idea but now I may be able to incorporate the two without it looking hokey. Would adding the spruce trees and the few other purple foilage ones on the right frame the house as suggested by some on this site? I always thought the left side was "heavier" than the right side because of the "color weight" of the burgandy build out and b/c it was a bay window. Now I am looking at it thinking I was wrong. With that Spruce there it seems to anchor the house so much better. I am seriously considering pulling the current tree that I have there (always have a place to put it :0) and replacing it with a Colorado Blue. I might even be able to get one at a good price while their clearing them out at the nurseries. Does anyone have any comment on the cedar placement in the center bare wall? yay or ney? The little patch of green in the center of circle drive will be planted with various sized shrubs, maybe some cedars and a large but low cement water fountain, boulders strategically placed in and around. I'm wondering if the guests vision would be blocked by the center plantings to see the walkway if it is on that side? In the inspiration photo it had a step up? Do you think we should try and landscape so it has a gradual slope up? All the dirt behind the hedge will be grass. oh boy...things are really looking up this morning!