Agree with Floral_uk, it looks like one of the black nightshades, probably S. douglasii given your location. There are several very similar species, and they grow wild pretty much everywhere. I take great pains to ensure that they never go to seed in my gardens, and they still crop up from dormant seed or from bird droppings. When I lived in San Diego, the local Hmong community cultivated one of the black nightshades extensively. There is a pretty god write up of the various species & their properties in the link below. Personally, I would just treat it like the weed that it is & dispose of it. Really nice jade plant bush behind it, by the way. Here is a link that might be useful: Black nightshade

Guys I repotted last year and I remember that the roots where almost hair like so it was quite a job to get them to open up somewhat so more of the roots could have a fighting chance getting at the nutrients in the new soil. I remember I only had a limited amount of peat soil on hand when I decided to move it to a larger pot. I had to improvise. I had a half of bag of soil that I told you about Bass and used that to fill in on top of the peat until the pot containing the plant was full. I also added just a (little) garden sulpher to the soil. I do fertilize with acid fertilizer and add a small amount of ironite as well every two weeks (1/2 strength). I trying to learn if it's the normal way they develop or was it my unorthodox method of potting it up contributing to its growing so impressively. Thanks guy. Did not think anyone would chime in on this one. Lou

Thanks so much for all your helpful responses! I knew it was a good choice to ask here. This espaliering idea sounds very enticing =] I've never heard of it, I'll be sure to read up about it. I really like persimmons and would love to have one, but thought there was no way I would have room for one. Is any particular type of rootstock required for it (semi-dwarf or dwarf), or is a regular tree fine for the purpose? I am attaching an aerial view of my house, right side is North (amazing what the internet gives you these days): 1. Location of presumed apricot tree. 2. Now I am thinking of planting the Red Baron peach in this location to give it some breathing room. I think it would look more aesthetic a little removed from the apricot. What are your ideas? About 6 feet to the right is a flower bed directly next to the wall and I was thinking of also planting a Washington Navel semi-dwarf or dwarf there. But maybe that would be a good location for the espaliered persimmon instead. 3. I was thinking of planting a kumquat in this patch, do you think it would be a good idea? Backyardener, in those pictures the backyard indeed looks dim and wet, but during the day the side depicted gets a lot of sun and is quite bright, and then lawn had just been watered hence the wetness. I'm hoping I'll be able to pull of some of these trees (fingers crossed). Do you think it's possible to prune that old unruly grapevine all the way down to the trunk and re-train it? I'll take your advice and probably use a 4-arm Kniffin training. mudflapper, thanks for the blueberry tips. I'm a little discouraged that they won't have optimal conditions since they seem to be picky plants, but after paying $40 for both of them I'm damn well gonna try getting them to grow. glenn_russel, some really great ideas, I was thinking about raised beds too. I'll have to see just how and where I could implement them. ashleysf, wooooow that is impressive. 25 types of fruit! Thanks for the link, some really interesting ideas on that website with planting four trees in the same area and keeping them trimmed to a manageable size. tagtail, thanks a lot for the fruit tree list! I like the Fuyu persimmon choice, always ended up eating the Hachiya ones early and getting that nasty astringent throat. I'm impressed you were able to tell I have a fig tree in the background. When we first got the house I actually thought it was a guava for a while until I googled some pictures =) So you would pick espaliered fruit trees over grapes? I'm definitely excited about the idea and would like to try it on at least one tree, but I also don't really want to throw all five of my grapes away. Maybe I'll mix and match. How young of a tree should I get for espaliering? I'm guessing rootstock is preferable? Up till now I have been buying potted containers.

Rob, I think a few of us in this thread have some reasonable experience with citrus. I'm a Master Gardener, and have been growing citrus and other fruit trees for a while, now. I have over 50 different varieties of citrus, and about 60 total citrus trees on my property. I do citrus presentations for my CRFG chapter, have attended UC extension classes on citrus, and am always learning. I also have a background in science (Biology). John has a degree in Botany from UC Davis, and is developing a large commercial citrus business. Neither of us are experts, be we know a few things :-) Perhaps you have more education, experience, expertise than us. We would appreciate your comments. The problem from what we can see with the photos, is the extent of the rootstock growth. That trunk emanating from the rootstock looks quite substantial. Cutting it off may cause a narrow crotch issue where the rootstock and scion are joined, which over time will eventually weaken the scion where it attaches to the rootstock, and may end up being the demise of the tree. Will the scion grow if the rootstock growth is removed? Most likely. But, will that provide a sound tree that can grow in the most healthy shape and manner? That's questionable. Again, just based on the few photos we have, this was several or our concerns. We really don't have enough photos to make the very best determination, and shambu is going to see if he can get the scion to recover and grow in a healthy manner, so time will tell. Patty S.