I really like the looks and small size of this space very much as an transition between the lawn and patio area! I see one piece of stone in the dirt in your pics, is it laid as a stepping stone to walk through to get to the grass area? I'd suggest maybe getting a few more and spacing them along the length, so you can across over in different places. An herb garden sounds great for this area, as I don't care for the look of succulents either. Along with the herbs don't forget to add companion flowering plants too that are edible, pansies, lavendar, marigold, nasturiums, borage, and roses petals are of course edible if you don't spray. Maybe a small rose such as "Lovely Fairy" could be grown on each end as a standard. To see pics of our recent gardening and landscaping projects and some of the Roses we grow, ck out my Picture Trail: careytearose Here is a link that might be useful: look at Landscaping Projects, Favourite ROSES We Grow albums

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.

Rhubarb! Gotta love rhubarb as a perennial stalk. So little care required. Old compost, sun and water. ;p I grow both german and english chamomile and it makes great tea, very beautiful, small daisy-like flowers. Bee balm (Monarda didyma) attracts wonderful butterflies and hummingbirds, and it is the ingredient that gives Earl Grey tea it's distinctive flavour. Melissa/lemon balm is another great perennial; I use the leaves in salads and for tea. All your mints are great for tea and dessert garnishes -peppermint, spearmint, etc but since they spread like mad you would have to contain them somehow. I have discovered orange mint and chocolate mint, pineapple mint. . .go find them and give them a try! Most of your perennial herbs will do great for spices. It is hard to go wrong with chives and garlic chives. They spread a little more each year. Surprisingly, lavender is edible. There are lots of recipes for it on the web, too many to list here. Good luck; let us know how it goes!

Of course loslunasfarms is correct to state that top pruning may be needed. But don't jump the gun (yet) on pruning the top. As my example illustrated, you may not need to root prune at all; you'll see what's up with the roots once you start removing soil. I do agree that root pruning during the growing season may require some top pruning (as opposed to root pruning during the quiescent period, at which time top pruning is not needed). However, in my limited experience, I find that F. benjamina is very resilient in its response to root disturbance. I whacked the roots of a small F. benjamina recently that was in a small container; I did no top work. The tree completely defoliated following repotting, but soon began to put on new foliage with a vengeance. I guess what I'm saying is to be conservative with your top pruning. Certainly, I would not be conservative with other less-vigorous species of plants. Perhaps Al will come back around to this thread and prove me wrong (or right, whatever the case may be)! ;-) Cheers!