From this view of the design, you can see the planting placement a little better. The native desert and adaptive plants work very well together in this front yard to create curb appeal and accent the front of this Southwest style home.
From this angle you can also see an example of the way the plants are intentionally placed in groups of odd number displays. The Ocotillo (tall desert looking cactus), for instance, are in a group of three. Even though they're not right together, they're still a consistent group that creates intentional unity in the landscape design.
The rest of the planting ideas in this landscaping follow pretty much the same rules. In this specific design, the plants themselves are grouped as well as the groups being in a consistent odd numbers throughout the yard. Consistency, simplicity, repetition, unity, and balance.
Even though this is a desert style landscape, there is still anautomated drip sprinkler system installed in this design. Once these types of xeriscape plants become established, they'll use very little water and won't require much care. However, when you have this many plants, along with the front yard retaining wall, automation just makes life easier until they do become established.