succulents save the day... or the garden at least

I grew up in the same house my entire childhood and my parents are still there. With my dad's recent retirement he's been working full-time on projects around the house that he didn't have enough time to get to before. Thankfully one of these projects includes the backyard which has not really seen a good day during my lifetime. It is a small space containing a concrete patio topped off with a sloping hill of weeds and dying succulents. Beyond the backyard is a private golf course that allows its unruly weeds to sneak over the fence and takeover the upper portion of the hill. The first step my dad made in getting this project off its feet was taking some photos of the backyard to the golf course management and asking them to remove their overgrown weeds. Luckily they said they'd send their landscapers over within the week and they did.

after the weeding had begun

The next step was weeding the rest of the backyard and removing the group of rosemary and juniper bushes that had seen better days. At this point my parents still had no clue what they wanted to do with the backyard once it was weeded, hence my entrance into the project. Being in the Bay Area, a mile from Ocean Beach, most days are filled with fog and not much sun nor rain, making gardening and just keeping it alive a bit of a challenge. Looking forward to a summer or year of water conservation was a reality as well. With this bit of information I decided that I would propose a garden full of succulents, dotted with pops of color from potted annuals and some hardy creeping ground cover to keep the upper half of the hill in place. In keeping with their Doelger home's (not theirs but the same model) 50's modern exterior I also suggested replacing the old painted-wood retaining wall at the base of the hill with a new natural wood version.

my proposed landscaping

Personally I wouldn't say I have a green thumb or know much about landscaping, but I know what I visually enjoy and what seems to thrive in their climate. To my joy, my folks really seem to have taken to my ideas and I should hopefully have some nice after photos for you in the near future. What do you think about my proposal? Do you have any suggestions, hints or tips?