This is my first home and I am learning so much from these forums! I'm trying to do sections at a time, and I would really like to tackle the eyesore that is this wall. No, I don't want to remove it because I appreciate the privacy, I just want something more organic than a bright and massive wall. I'm not looking to completely cover every inch of the wall, but at least to break it up.

The wall faces SOUTH and gets FULL SUN, as in all day long. There's a 2 ft strip running along the front facing the street an another 2 ft along the back facing the garages. The side facing the garages has Calla Lilies happily growing in it although I hope to improve that side too, but let's leave that for later.

There was some sort of ugly plant along with bermuda grass growing on the street side that we tore out when we moved in. Some remnants are visible and I'm not sure how to remove it entirely. The soil itself is either just extremely dry, or really sandy (I think the latter, I can post pics). As I'd like to plant within a couple of months, I figured I would just dig it out about 8-12" deep and fill it in with topsoil. Thoughts?

As for what to plant... I was thinking something like ivy on the edges, a BOUGAINVILLEA (Orange Ice or Orange Glory) planted more towards the center, some more ivy-like type green plant farther down, next something with deep purple foliage or flowers (maybe a climbing rose like Night Owl), another bougainvillea of same variety as before, and some more ivy-like plant (same as others) to cover the step section nearest in the photo. I'm not set on only this number of plants, I just want to give a general idea of how I was hoping the wall to look.
I hope it makes sense... let me know if I should clarify! Perhaps I should draw this out and post a picture...

*Are these plants suitable for so much sun and in my climate? Recommendations on what would be better are greatly appreciated!

*Is 2 feet away from the wall too little space to plant any type of vine? If it is impossible for any of the above mentioned plants please do tell!

*Do I need to attach some kind of trellis support for this or will vines climb up the wall on their own?

*How far apart should I plant each from each other? This wall is very very long so I definitely have room for a wide distance between them.

For reference about color I like the pinkish orange tones of bougainvillea and deep purples and light blue-purples.

Any and all help would be super helpful! From prepping soil to plant suggestions! I'm just hoping to avoid calling out a landscaper :)

Here you can see how insanely bright the wall looks. Especially when coming from the opposite direction, where only the roof of my house is visible, it looks like I live behind a giant white wall.

Here's a close-up:

Here's to get a better sense of how much room I have to plant on the near edge of the wall:

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?_adv_prop=image&fr=chr-gr eentree_gc&va=creeping+fig

Here's a picture of the wall coming from the other direction. The dark brown pergola looks like a shadow in this picture, but I promise it's much more apparent in real life.