1: Salvias gregii; the only California native in your set 2: Forget me not; self sows as a pretty weed, not native 3: Borage; another weedy self sowing herb with pretty flowers 4: Chasmanthe aethiopica: a South African bulb which has naturalized here, survives on rainfall alone and goes deciduous in summer, it is attractive to Hummers 5: Plum tree, another plant that has naturalized here and can survive on winter rainfall alone, birds and people like the fruit. Your garden photos are all plants that can grow with absolutely no care on your part, but are seasonal winter growers into spring for the weeds. They are quite a few natives that are attractive to hummingbirds, but even more flowering plants from South America with showy flowers that are even more attractive to hummingbirds such as Abutilons, Iochromas, Fuchsias such h as F. boliviana and F. paniculata, Cantua buxifolia, Cupheas, etc. California natives to look for would include some of the Ribes species, Zauschnerias, some Penstemons to name a few. Pick up a copy of the Sunset Western Garden book for more information on gardening in the SF Bay Area and your zone 17 climate. Annie's Annuals Nursery also has a great web site with info on natives and hummingbird attracting plants on her web site, and the nursery in Richmond, California is well worth a visit.

Looking at your inspiration photos, it seems that there are groundcover-like materials that can be grown there. I'm not familiar with what they might be so can't make recommendations. But it looks like a fairly lush look is available if one chooses the right material. Before doing any planting, I'd be considering if there is any possible way to widen the entrance walk, which is considerably undersized. The house would look more upscale with a much wider walk and you could probably eliminate one step in the process, making for an improved entry experience. I'd consider removing all of the raised edging. The beds it creates are much too tightly pinched to the house. A 5' to 6' minimum bed width would be more like it. In addition, the edge itself is so thin that it cheapens the overall look of the property. A masonry bed edge should be 8" wide, or wider, in order to be in scale with a house. If the edging didn't exist, it would be easy to place foundation plants where they should go. I find myself wishing the fence that encloses the back yard didn't come so close to the front entrance. By doing so, it messes up possible planting (the blank space between the windows is asking for a small tree) and generally looks a bit utilitarian so close to the front entrance. It would be nice if the back yard entrance could be framed with an arbor, but I don't know if that's possible with the way the architecture is laid out behind the fence. It would need to be explored. In the illustration I'm showing the types of plants that could go in certain locations. It's not means to be comprehensive. It's a start.

No doubt that moving is a pain, however, I think that longer you have stayed in one place you tend to accumulate more junk and moving takes longer. I have much more than a 1,000 square ft. yard to take care of. Mine is just short of a half acre. What I have done is let a large part of it be taken over by bushes that I don't need to take care of, but are excellent hummingbird and butterfly plants. I have two large sections that are almost completely covered by Hamelia Patens or Firebush. Another large section is covered by large purple porterweeds and Cuphea Schumannii. The Schumannii have colonized another large section of the yard. Each year more and more of the yard is covered by plants that have turned out to be perennials here. My biggest fear is a long, hard freeze which would kill off some these plants, although probably not down to the roots. I do spend a lot of time taking care of the yard. I keep thinking of hiring people to help. I will do that some time in the future :) Still, it does take time and effort to work in the yard. Hopefully it will get a bit easier with the cooler weather.

CJ I appreciate your quest for top quality fruit. You won't find it at a supermarket or farmers market for stonefruit. You can get excellent pears at the grocery because pears are best picked hard and let to ripen off the tree. Even a home grower does this. Pears that ripen on the tree have the texture ruined. Stone fruit is picked under-ripe/hard so it can be packed & shipped. Notice even at the farmers market they are piled on each other in boxes. You can't do that with ripe fruit! No home grower of stone fruit picks them early unless they are processing the fruit. When a person (like Chloe for ex.) says the great peaches they are getting at the store it's a red flag to me they have never had a properly managed tree ripened peach. My yard is very fragrant with the smell of ripening fruit. A ripe peach will come off the tree with a gentle twist. Just grabbing it will indent on the fruit. There is a strong smell. I stay outside to eat the peach because it is messy. The flesh melts as you bite into it, juice spills down your chin and onto the ground. It's very sticky because there is a lot of sugar in it. You can't believe how good it tastes. You won't be able to buy a peach at the store for fresh eating after trying this. It sounds like you are in bay area. I would offer you one of my fruits but I sold my home in San Jose last summer. I hope the new owners are enjoying all my stone fruit. Like you I can't bring myself to buy the rocks at the store. So if you are in the bay area: https://www.facebook.com/JandPFarms/ I was lucky enough to live down the street from this guy. He has an honor system fruit stand. The best fruit ironically is the cheap bruised/damaged items because they are the ripest, hence the damage. A lot of the pretty fruit is picked too early because birds hit his trees hard. Still they will be better than what you find at the store because he is not packing them and allows them to ripen longer. https://andysorchard.com/ Go on a tasting tour at Andy's orchard. You can do sampling and then go pick fruit direct from the tree. Even there I was underwhelmed. Water is very cheap for him and he pumps his trees full of it. The fruits are huge and watered down. He sells by the pound so it works for him :) https://www.sccl.org/Locations/Los-Altos There is an apricot orchard in front of the Los Altos library. It is the cities and unfortunately most years the fruit just falls to the ground and the city does nothing with them. You can get excellent apricots there even though you are not allowed pick to I used to hate seeing them rot and would pick a grocery bag full myself. http://www.davewilson.com/product-information/category/fruit-trees If you have a yard in the bay area you can fit a fruit tree and keep it small. Plant one! If you want some excellent Florida mango order some from here now: https://tropicalacresfarms.com/ And in the fall superb dates: https://7hotdates.com/shop-usa_single.html Good luck on your quest!