That looks great so far! bananas?? There are some hardy to zones 8-9

You might also check out the FNGIA website. Sam Comer, with Hayslip Landscape in Ft. Pierce , was a 2012 FNGlA winner in one of the residential categories. He is zone 9B, per your request, though the Ocala area also has several micro pockets of 8B and 9A, making local word of mouth worth some weight, as well.

@cjmoe, there are many plants that attract both butterflies and hummingbirds. Milkweed for the monarch butterfly, that is all they eat btw. Just about anything that blooms for hummers. Call your local nursery depending on where you live in Mesa. A&P on Baseline, just west of Lindsay is a good one as well as Treeland on Arizona Ave., south of Guadalupe. Or Whitfill's, if there is one in your neck of the woods. Phoenix Home and Garden magazine have a website and should have a listing there as well. Every month there is an article for gardening and the different plants to buy.

The house faces west and therefore the tree to the left provides quite a bit of shade to the entrance and the hidden area behind the wall as the sun traverses it's northern path so we'd probably need to keep it or replace it eventually with something that complements the rest of the plants once they are in. To balance it out, we are considering removing the pillars and pergola and planting a mature tree just to the right of the right hand side window as you look at the house.. Flair lighting, thanks for the mock ups. The entrance has a metal gate although not as ornate as your examples. That wall definitely needs a vine. I agree with your idea about mission Spanish. I found the attached photo which is surprisingly very close to our design. We would prefer to keep the house lighter in colour to reflect the heat and keep it fresh. It appears quite stark at the moment but with more vegetation this should be toned down a bit. http://www.houzz.com/trk/aHR0cDovL3d3dy5rb2Zma2FwaGFrb3MuY29tL3Jlc2lkZW50aWFsL2ZlYXR1cmVkL3NwYW5pc2hjb3VydHlhcmQuaHRtbA/2e646a2356dedb23526afeeedc173c81/ue/NTY5MDkxNg/e32a848efa9b0701d3eebbbc7e1412b1 Will have a look at the sunset magazine Christina for some landscaping ideas that suit.