If your going to have a swing set and foot traffic, St Aug is out. Bermuda needs lots and lots of sun, so thats out. Empire Zoysia does well in part shade and handles foot traffic very well. I have some growing well on the side of my house where it only gets about an hour of sun a day. You can sod the entire back yard with one pallet. Depending on who you by from and if you can pick it up your self or not, it will run $80 (direct from the sod farm, you pick it up) to $250 (delivered and installed). You will need to water this grass once a week during the dry season. Where did you say you live? Im in Lee county.

I have many Peach and Nectarine trees. Mine are all 250 chill-hour rated, or less. I'm in zone 10, Jupiter, and we never get enough chill, yet the trees produce year after year. You will want to prune it well every year in summer and spray in winter with dormant oil or "fruit tree spray." They are pretty trees, small, and very productive for their size. As mentioned before, squirrels are the biggest issue. They will break branches, take one bite of a peach and toss it away. I've had them strip trees in minutes! I grew Peaches/Nectarines in containers on my patio for years. Got beautiful, delicious fruits! Now all but 4 are planted in the ground. They like full sun and moderate water. My dogs and pellet gun now control the tree rats effectively. A hedge might be difficult to manage, as they do not like to be shaded/crowded. They also are not very attractive in winter. Bay Laurel Nursery in California has a superb collection of low-chill fruit trees. They are my favorite source. Tropic Snow, Eva's Pride and Tropic Beauty are highly recommended for zones 9-10. Lisa Here is a link that might be useful: Low chill fruit trees

I've grown 'black mission" and 'green ischia' as well as 'Kodata', 'brown turkey' and have several other italian unanmed varieties in my inlaws backyard. Growing figs and actually getting to eat a bunch in South Florida is not easy. There is a problem with rust fungus which browns and causes leaves to fall off. Secondly there are nematodes in the soil that chew on capillary roots and then there are not enough chilling hours in our winter to force the trees to go dormant for a while. From what I've read and my own past experience here is what has actually helped. I now grow 3 varieties in big plastic pots (about 20 gal)with quality potting soil (no nematodes) and have a 3-4inch layer of mulch on top of soil to discourage nematodes an dkeep soil moist. In the spring, as soon as they start growing I use a water soluble fertilizer (left over from feeding my orchids) and feed them regularly (once per week) they respond fairly quiockly and put out a lot of new leaves and figs. I never water the leaves, strictly water the soil only and this help keep rust off the plants. Of course when it starts raining in summer all bets are off and you will loose most of your leaves regardless what you do. You can spray the leaves with copper fungicide one a week and it will help, also removing any infected leaf will help and planting tree in a very sunny spot that gets plenty of air movement is helpful. After all of this, you will have wildlife competition for the figs and I've resorted to bagging each individual fig as it starts to ripen with a 6 inch piece of a ventilated french bread loaf plastic bag and stapled one end closed and tied the other end with a piece of wire around the growing fig. This will allow room for expansion in the bag and keep birds off of it. However raccoons wil tear the bag and get to the fig. This may be more than you asked, but I was in mood to vent.

Hi Stephanie, I'm in the South Miami area and would recommend moving into Dade if you're going to be working in Downtown Miami. If not, you're going to face horrible congestion daily with your commute, because the areas of Dade north of downtown that you will have to travel through are VERY congested. The same goes for Doral, just because of how far West in Dade it is. Coral Gables is definitely the nicest part of Dade (unless you can afford a truly exclusive area), with matching high prices, but Coconut Grove and Key Biscayne are equally attractive areas (depending on which part of Coconut Grove, that is). If those are out of your price range, then the parts of South Miami that surround Coral Gables are also very nice. Keep in mind, however, that there has been a HUGE drop in house prices, and you might be able to find something quite nice. These areas (Coral Gables, Brickell, Key Biscayne, Coconut Grove, and parts of South Miami) will afford you the best commute, since there are lovely back roads leading directly into downtown and are all pretty close to it. They do get traffic during rush hour, but I guarantee you will be better off on Old Cutler Road for a half hour than for at least an hour on the highway between Broward and Downtown. Not only that, but these areas are pretty much the only areas that are almost entirely covered by mature live oak and banyan (various ficus) trees that line the streets and give you a scenic, shady drive... in either Dade or Broward. Well, not Key Biscayne, but Key Biscayne has its own appeal. But do you have the opportunity to take a trip down to these places before you decide on where you move? Only you know your price range and exactly what you're looking for. Good luck!