Keep your templates short and try colorful envelops like red or purple.

Shooting for regular grey is tough as your home can come out blue, purple, green, pink etc.

Seth Godin wrote a great little book called "Purple Cow"  The gist is that people notice a purple cow, so you need to make your offering stand out like a purple cow would. 

The neighborhood really has a mix of colors... from kinda crazy bright colors (purple, bright green and even orange), to the more usual neutral tones (gray, tan, green/gray).

I live in a house I bought out of foreclosure, and there is ultra-dark purple paint all over the trim.

green, blue, and purple.  

A little Orange and Purple looks pretty good on BP!

My favorites are purple fountain grass which grows HUGE and needs almost no water.

Water is tight in AZ, reclaimed purple pipes for parks, low maintenance yards kinda thing, and flooding during the infrequent storm can be an issue since, AZ is really NOT engineered to withstand heavy rains.

Avoid adding spreading groundcovers and plants with indeterminate growth patterns such as bougainvillea.Should you need a plant list for your area, check this resource:  http://www.amwua.org/plantsA few plants that I personally like...Salvia leucantha has pretty purple flowers and will fill a spaceEuphorbia rigida adds a nice blue popRosmarinus officinalis has solid green color year round and does great in full sun once established (keep out of shade)Muhlenbergia capilaris is a great grass that adds color as well.