Bonita: I see your question was from January but had a couple of thoughts even if they are a bit late. Or did you plant something already? First we have ordered TONS of plants and trees from Forest Farm (link below) and you just cannot go wrong. Everything always arrives in a very timely fashion and well packaged. I have ordered a couple of plants from Gurneys and it has always been a nightmare. I'll never do it again. If you want lush plants that are the size described order from Forest Farm. They also have an unbelievable selection. On that note, we ordered six Thuja Green Giant trees from Forest Farm this year for the purpose of creating a privacy screen in the back yard. Although I thought they perhaps could have been a bit lusher they were nice trees, about five feet tall and very healthy. I would recommend these trees for being reasonably fast growing. In my experience with the five I have from a few years ago they don't grow three feet in a year like the hype says but they are lovely, tough little trees that make a hedge. And they don't really require pruning and trimming to look nice. Hope this helps. Kate Here is a link that might be useful: Forest Farm

Also consider your water budget. I just found out a friend is paying $600 a month for water!! (an acre, but only 3 people in the house, so it's mostly outdoor usage, for the lawns and the ivy [gag] they planted in the middle of summer). The LA water district used to have a waterwise landscape planning website. See if you can find out what the neighbors with landscaping pay for water, or what the past water bills were in your house (without irrigation). Think about whether you need to add irrigation, since it's a big initial expense and, if you end up with calif/medit plants, you may need only temporary drip lines to get them established. Starting in mid to late October, that's a perfect time to plant garlic, which will be ready to harvest in late spring. I've planted it as late as early December, using whatever different varieties I can find at the local farmers' market. Easy plants you can plant in late fall are artichokes (plants) and from seed, arugula, fava beans (as a cover crop, but also have pretty flowers and edible beans later), calif. poppies, and other calif. native wildflowers. You can ask for plants on your local freecycle group -- I gave away a bunch in the spring. Think about where the sun hits the house in the winter (lower angle, smaller arc) and summer (higher angle, wider arc), and plan to have deciduous trees or vines to block the summer sun (to keep the house cool and save on possible a/c bills). Also, find out if your area has seasonal winds you might want to deflect. Most important, don't try to do it all at once. A herb garden is where I would start, too. As much as I too would be eager to get it all planted as soon as possible, I highly recommend what the permaculturists call "careful and protracted observation" to learn your site.

I have a similar set up . A row of seven semi dwarf apples that I maintain two dimensionally, ie a freestanding espalier . And a hedge of rabbit eye blueberries. I,m typing on my phone so the response is limited. I wanted a tall fence so I went with the semi dwarf, but if you want control I would suggest dwarf. Pay special attention to growth type and disease resistance. Specifically spur forming vs tip bearing. It's hard to control growth and get good yield with tip bearing. The specific disease are cedar apple rust, and fire blight for apple and pears for the latter. I'd recommend sticking to one type of fruit if they are planted densly. The blueberries are super easy, but purchase the largest plants you can because they grow slowly. Cherry and peach are hard work. Look at johnsonnursery and Century farm orchards. Be careful what you read on line, e.g. The multi plant method is used in SoCal where plants grow completely different. But it's worth a shot. And remember its a five year experiment!

You might want to check out local people for the hardiness and eventual size of these plants. I am at 8300' in CO, zone 5a and quite windy. Elderberries get ~8' tall here. Service berries get 6' or so. All this with irrigation. Other plants which should in theory grow here, don't. A lot of plants have a smaller mature size in harsher climates, like mine. You don't give the other details about your location (like wind, etc) but many of these plants may end up smaller than they would if grown in a warmer/wetter location. BTW here I have yet to see Carmine Jewel cherry get much higher than 4'.