Greetings from the West side of the water! The best advice I can give you is to seek out WSU Master Gardeners. They can give you guidance for your plans. They normally set up at Farmer's Markets on the weekend

i top seeded with this lawn mix this year:
http://sunmarkseeds.com/product_display.php?id=60&tab=2&ptab=6

there were a few bare patches where the mix came in to form 100% of the lawn, and i am very happy with it. it grows to about 8" and just stops. hasn't needed a lick of water to stay healthy looking. the grasses are browned, but its mostly dwarf bachelor buttons and alyssum right now. very nice.

obviously its decently expensive for a grass mix...

oh, and i finally planted a Myrica californica on my property. right next to a giant group of cherry trees. its needed very very minimal water in its first year.

a tough plant. attractive. nice lil piece of evergreen background.

Here's a link to the Great Plant Picks site, which allows you to search by sun and drought-tolerant trees, shrubs, etc.

I planted two kinds of lavender (Hidcote and Provence) and several 'Rose Glow' barberry plants in our full sun parking strip when we ripped out the grass this spring. I've only watered them 2-3 times all summer so far, and the Provence and barberry look great. The Hidcote is definitely thirstier and struggling in such a hot place, so I should probably water it more, but I'll probably just move it to a less sunny spot.

I also have several kinds of sedum, including 'Autumn Joy', 'Postman's Pride', 'Purple Emperor', 'Matrona', as well as ground cover varieties like Oregon Stonecrop and Angelina. These all love sun and are definitely drought tolerant. Again, I've only watered mine 2-3 times all summer, and they look great. They also like really lean soil (with almost no organic matter). In richer soil, they all get leggy and floppy. The only sedums struggling this summer are two 'Mediovariegatum' plants (like a variegated 'Autumn Joy'), which got chewed on by aphids.

If you can create a raised berm in Vignette 3 so you get good drainage, maybe you can put in a Ceanothus 'Victoria' or similarly hardy Ceanothus. They're evergreen, grow from a 1 gal container to 6+ feet or more pretty quickly (2-3 years), and have beautiful blue blooms in the spring. They're California lilacs that prefer dry conditions, and you'll only need to water them the first year or two. The same with rosemary. You can actually kill both if you water too much. Last summer I planted an 'Arp' Rosemary, which is supposed to be one of the hardiest varieties. I still lost it after the big snowstorm at Thanksgiving, probably because I watered it weekly, so it was still pretty tender when the storm hit. I planted my 'Julia Phelps' Ceanothus two years ago, but it also got hit pretty hard by the storm and wet spring, losing two out of its three main branches. My neighbor's Ceanothus--I think it's 'Dark Star'--had almost no damage, maybe because it's established, having been in the ground for 5-6 years. They've also struggled growing rosemary and finally gave up after losing yet another plant this past winter.

Mariev - Thanks for the california lilac suggestion. I had wanted to use thee in my back yard but opted to cheeks and easier to find plants. I will put it on my short list.

Lavenders are deformed by shade and prone to rotting out if conditions remain damp around them.

Luckily the lavender won't be getting any shade, and will stay dry, so there shouldn't be any problems.

I was responding to

>The Hidcote is definitely thirstier and struggling in such a hot place, so I should probably water it more, but I'll probably just move it to a less sunny spot

This is a good nursery for xeric plants that might give you some ideas-

Here is a link that might be useful: High Country Gardens

Holy cow. The yard looks FANTASTIC. I have a couple of small lavender bushes that are in the back yard that I'm going to put in tomorrow morning, and then I'll snap a few photos.

I can't wait for the grass to start to sprout!

Actually, the Hidcote lavender plants are probably struggling because I didn't plant them until late June, and I haven't been very good about watering them since they're in the parking strip. I should have been more specific when I wrote, "I'll probably just move it to a less sunny spot." I wasn't planning to move them to a shady location but to a sunny area closer to the house where I'll water them, and they won't be baking because they're totally neglected.

{{gwi:43616}}

{{gwi:43617}}

{{gwi:43618}}

{{gwi:43619}}

{{gwi:43620}}

Thanks for sharing the pictures of your started lawn & new garden bed!

Your yard looks great! I realize its been a year but I would love to see current pictures:) I am facing a very similar situation and was wondering what you ended up planting on the berm? Also curious to know if you had the rest of the juniper removed? We have a large one in our yard that has kind of taken over and are thinking about having it taken out and replaced with something more manageable as far as size and trimming needs, but hopefully as drought resistant since it is a difficult area to water.

I'm chiming in here late, but you might want to consider a second Myrica californica in Vignette 3. Mine grow close to 2' a year and they'll do a nice job of blocking the unsightly trash cans. Blue elderberry (Sambucus cerulea) also do nicely in full sun and grow pretty quickly after about a year.

I'd like a 2013 picture please.

How funny! I was looking for another thread and happened upon this. Here it is last August/Sept before I tore the rest of the junipers out

No finished photos of the area, I was planning on having mulch delivered in autumn after completing my rock/stream thingy then had to have my appendix removed and was told no heavy lifting/etc for over a month, and lost momentum. We'll hopefully be mulching in the next few weeks and will take more photos then.

Sorry to hear about your surgery, hopefully you've healed well. Thanks for sharing your pictures. It's looking great! What is the large bush to the left if you're facing the house? The one low to the ground with the large leaf? You get a lot of ground cover out of it, and if its drought tolerant that could be very helpful for our dry summers

Thanks for the update. Gardens are always "works in progress" and it is nice to see your on-going project. It's fun to follow along vicariously and see the improvement. Less work for us too! It looks so much better than the overgrown junipers and you will enjoy it so much. Thanks for sharing.