Succulents In The Fountain?

I'm doing a landscape design for a client that has a house in Del Mar very close to the Polo fields.  We had a 7:30 AM meeting.  I got there a little early and took this picture of the sun coming up over the fields.  You can't see the Polo fields they were blanketed by morning mist. 

The house is a Spanish style with colonial and Moorish elements.  Right now the landscape is a sea of green and the front door is hard to find. The client wants color and her favorite is red.  They live in the North East and this is their vacation home. I'm recommending removing the tree in front of the fireplace because it will grow to 70' tall and it was planted to close to the foundation. 

Some of the tree ferns will be remove from the front of the house because they are blocking the windows and hiding the front door.  Can you see the awnings on the windows?  Hard to see but they need to be replaced.  I would like to add lights to either side of the entryway to better define it.  Right now there aren't any lights.

While the fountain is pretty, it looks as if it was just plucked down in the grass and doesn't tie into the landscape.  One of my ideas is to create a planter around the base of the fountain to better connect it to the front yard. 

Another idea is to plant the fountain itself.

They homeowner loves succulents.  This prompted a trip to the Nursery.

I took these pictures at Cordova Gardens in Encinitas, Ca.

They do amazing succulent displays.

Check out this succulent topiary ball.

Beautiful Agave are so architectural.

Here is a small fountain planted.  I have seen larger more grand ones that this nursery has done.  This one cost approx. $500 for the plants and the installation.  Large fountains fully installed by the nursery can run up to $1,500.  Not sure that's in my clients budget even if I did the installation for them?  The popularity in succulents in recent years has driven up the price.

The front gate of Cordova Gardens is beautiful and all drought tolerant.

Here is a picture of a succulent creation from Solana Succulents.  They use succulents to create "Seascapes."  They always have fabulous displays at the Del Mar Fair.

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I couldn't go home without something for myself.

This is what I planted.

Here is my little bird bath I planted years ago by my front door.  The winter rains have helped everything bloom, even my succulents.

What do you think about succulents in a fountain?

Thanks for checking it out.