I'd do a vine that can be cut down in winter, like a clematis. That said, what's on the other side of the stairs?

There's nothing at the moment! We just renovated. Planning to do a small retaining wall around the walkway and a curved garden in front of the porch.

Nice porch. I might go with urns on both sides of the steps. Which direction does it face?

tj

ETA- maybe even a third urn in front of the pillar on the right.

In order to begin to come up with ideas, we need to know where in the world you are, and which direction the house faces. Though my first inclincation is that it is going to be extremely difficult to grow anything there and have it look decent. Statuary, or a large urn is probably going to be the end solution.

We used to have a slightly larger area between our front stoop and the house. When the stoop was redone, that area went bye-bye. It looks a lot better now.

Porch faces west and we're near Toronto, Ontario

You could certainly grow a dwarf Alberta spruce in that location for a good number of years before it outgrew that spot.