PharmaChad, looking good! I've used some of the wire border edging to prop up some limbs. 'Misty' would never stay in bounds without them. Here is a link that might be useful:

Sara, that is probably not a disease unless it came fast and you missed it. Big box stores are notorious for putting any label on any plant, so it could be an ornamental grape, a muscadine grape (which needs a cross-pollinator), or who knows what. If your plant still has some leaves on it I would compare the leaf shape with a Fredonia leaf online - grape leaves are a good ID tool. Overall the odds are high that it is not a Fredonia. Scott

Fruithack, thank you for the link! Could persimmons be any more beautiful? Too big for the fig bed, but the notion of having one elsewhere on the property makes my heart go pitter-pat. Tcstoehr, thank you for your wonderful feedback. I was so fixated on the planting of semi-dwarf fruit trees on the other side of the house that i sort of inadvertently dismissed how large these fig trees would get unless i intervene. Having said that, i still want them to be trees, rather than bushes. I'll do a bit of research on how to maintain a tree-like shape ... Murky, i'm hoping there'll be enough sunlight on the blueberries as the figs mature, as the house is quite a distance from the bed. The pictures are a bit deceiving in this regard. As for orientation, the dogwood on the upper tier is east, the center azaleas in the foreground west, the deck south. Gads, i hope they'll get enough sun! Thank you everyone for your thoughts, suggestions and guidance ... :)

Sue, that is really cute for you and your son. :) I have a 6yo daughter and we play with trying to start avacado tress from pits too. I posted in another thread here about it. Also, there are a few threads on the California Gardening forums about avacado trees that might be able to help you, they know a lot more about them than me over there. I posted a pic of my tree there too so you can see about the size, and mine is considered a small one from what I can tell. Good luck! And don't think too much about your little boy going off to college, wah!