Crosstraining - my new front porch

Tonight's crosstraining involved giving my front entryway a boost in the appearance department. I don't have any 'before' pictures, but nothing that you see plant-wise in the following pictures existed before this evening, not even the mulch.

I live in a condo complex that is supposed to maintain the grounds, including the flower beds. However, in the past 2 years, the only changes that have occured in front of my door are the gradual death of 4 shrubs, each progressively further away from my door, and the removal of any sort of mulch or topsoil from the flower beds. I was not interested in planting expensive bushes to have them die, so I found a few inexpensive shrubs that I have seen in other people's beds. Hopefully that means they will survive in mine.

I also know that I will not be living here 6 months from now, so I decided to plant the rest of my flowers in a nice planter that I can take with me when I move in with Chad.

Here is the final result...ooooh....aaahhhh.....