i CAN'T WAIT TO SEE--PLEASE POST ANOTHER PICTURE IN JULY.

Jenn: I am in SoCal and have a spanish style home with an arcade, also, but mine faces north. I had a Dracaena by my front door for years until it grew too tall. Then it went to the backyard until it grew too tall for the overhang by the back door. I think that is a perfect choice for your (and mine) architecture. I hate to get rid of these "old friends", so I had to put it in a hidden corner. I also had what I think is called Dumb Cane under my porch light. It has now grown too large and is in my hidden corner. I have a very large Mother-in-law's tongue by the front door which has bloomed once in 12 years. It has the most delightful fragrance. It compliments the architecture, also.

I'm thinking the annuals selection at your local garden centers or big box stores (our Wal-mart had some good looking things for at least half the price of the garden centers) would be pretty much the same for those of us in Indiana, Minnesota and Illinois since we're not too far away in the hardiness zones. If you're fond of daisy-like flowers, Osteospermum or Cape Daisey comes in more pastel shades of purple, pink, white, yellow. The Gerbera Daisies are bigger and bolder colored. Calibrachoa is a nice trailing plant, like a tiny petunia, and if you pinch it back a little it'll stay fuller. Petunias come in a good range of colors and would be a good container choice, and pinks (dianthus) come in shades of red, red fringed in white, white fringed in red, salmon. For foliage - as noted above, dusty miller is a real good choice since it's a silvery gray color it just goes with everything. Ivies, sweet potato vine, coleus, there's just so much variety to choose from. And if you need a tall accent, there's a plant we always just called "spike". Have fun - if you see color combinations you like, go with it. Pretty hard to go wrong.

Before I thought about planting I'd address access to that door. Some kind of path leading from the door so you're not stepping onto grass. With that in place it might be better to expand the planting areas and then consider what to put in them. It all depends on what is behind the camera. Is this a front door? A rear door? What do you see when you're standing on the stoop?