What direction does the house face? (An online map can help with this if you don't know; just look up your address, and the map will be oriented with north at the top.) Are you north or south of the equator? The sun will be a bit higher in the sky in summer, and lower in the winter (creating longer shadows), though the closer to the equator you are, the less variation there is. What time of day was the photo taken and at what time of year? I would wait for a day when you will be home all day a take a series of photos every 3 hours or so to get a feel for how much sun it gets. Full sun plants generally do well in at least 6 hours of sun, though in your hot location some may need some shelter while others can be fine in all day sun. Plants' sun tolerance may vary with heat and sun intensity so that plants that like full sun with my northern, less intense sun may fry in full sun in zone 10. If the sun looks like this most of the day by the planter, it is full shade, and IME geraniums do better in more sun, even in warm locations like San Jose CA. How large is the planter? You will want a narrow and most likely low-growing plant near the walk so that it doesn't feel crowded or leave stains on visitors' clothing.

Choose kinds expected to get about 1 1/2 times as high as the bed is wide. Unless you order in you will be planting something you find at a local outlet. So making choices based on what you read or are told about elsewhere, then looking for these locally may result in not being able to find them. Instead see what is on offer there, that seems to meet your requirements and then proceed from that point.

Thanks, everyone. My house faces West, and the planter is 36" x 19".

West facing means that the large wall on the left qualifies full sun, even though it will have bright morning shade, since it will be more than 6 hours. Between the time of day it gets sun (afternoon) and the reflection from the wall behind it, the light will be intense at the hottest time of day, so you want something tolerant of those conditions. You can post on the Garden Web forum for your area such as Florida Gardening or California Gardening or visit a good local nursery for suggestions.

I would choose something low and tolerant of full shade for the planter not only to avoid crowding the walk, but also because on a north-facing wall crowded with plants you may have moisture problems. You could hang some garden art above the planter on the wall.

Thank you, NHBabs for that information. Could you clarify what you mean

by moisture problems? Thanks.

Plants transpire, which is to say they release moisture from their leaves as they are growing. Planted that close to a wall, the wall will be subjected to prolonged damp conditions, especially because a wall that faces north will not have the direct sun exposure necessary to help dry it off.

And adding to what illsstep said, if plants get damp from dew or rain, that will also add moisture that won't evaporate well on the building's north side. So prolonged moisture is is more likely to create water problems such as surface mildew or even rot on the building and foliage diseases on the plants. If you had more space between the wall and the walkway, you could plant something taller and farther from the building (a foot or so) but you don't have the space. Do plant far enough out from the west-facing wall so the the plants won't end up against the building, even though it may look a bit sparse initially. I usually plant some annuals there to fill in until the shrubs or perennials get larger.

Thank you for explaining so clearly!