I'm looking to setup my first mini orchard with as much variety as I can. So, any fruit/berry trees or bushes good for zone 7 is what I'm looking for. To trade, I have white and yellow daffodils, yellow and purple irises, some rhubarb, hostas, hyacinths, and red cannas.

HELP! Three weeks ago we bought a house in Zone 15 (Central Coast of California, "frost-free" area about 1/4 mile from ocean, no salt spray, wind-sheltered), tore out the raggedy old plantings and now face the street with no privacy! There's an live oak and a Giant Sequoia along our street frontage, so there's partial shade and the soil is acid. We need 2 or 3 types of fast-growing shrubs for privacy (allowed to grow naturally - we don't want a pruned, uniform hedge.) Need to reach 10 feet, if possible. Would any of these work for us? NEAR/UNDER THE OAK: purple hopseed bush (dodonea viscosa), bay laurel (laurus nobilis), mock orange (pittosporum tabira) or escallonia rubra. NEAR/UNDER THE REDWOOD: camellia, carpenteria, pittosporum tabira, laurus nobilia, rhododendron. Thanks!

Bayberry/wax myrtle would work - either Morella (formerly Myrica) pennsylvanica or M. cerifera. The first is semi-evergreen; the second fully evergreen. Some hollies would work also but I am not very familiar with any of the east coast species.

A difference between people and plants is that the former are difficult to clone while the latter are easy. On account of that, when individual plants which are outstanding or unusual come along, they are often named and cloned and marketed as such. They are not different species, but different individuals, that are replicated in great numbers. So you will find some named Japanese Ligustrums that have somewhat different characteristics from the straight species. There is one that has whitish/yellowish tip growth, for example. These named varieties are collectively called cultivars. Sometimes in the world of horticulture, a cultivar, because of its good characteristics, is more popular than the straight species and dominates the world of horticulture to the point that the straight species is no longer sold. The common name for many different species of Ligustrums is privet. The world of horticulture is messy, on large account because we are talking about living things that can vary widely in size, shape and other characteristics, even if the same species. Plants don't stop growing so the numbers commonly listed for height and spread can vary quite a bit. They are guides, and often misleading since they state a size at a point in time, but not what a plant might become in later years. Ligustrum/privet will work for you as it fits into the category of large shrubs that can be trained into trees. However, IME, it can become quite broad. It is a dark, heavy foliage mass and could probably come to shade much of your lawn between the house and fence. While the species India hawthorn can become a small tree, most of those you'll find in retail sales will not get as large because the main use of this plant has been as foundation shrubs, where people want them to be smaller and they have been bred for that. You would need to be careful about what you buy in order to know that you are getting straight species or a large variety. If I were looking for a solution, I would not rule out deciduous plants. While they don't screen completely during the winter, they filter the view enough that it is ghostly and seems less offensive. Then, of course, they give complete screening during the warm months when people are outdoors. They frequently have the benefit of spectacular floral displays at some point.