i would personally watch out for the online purchase. once i got totally screwed by gurney's- which seems like a major company cause they pop out everywhere. when you order plants online, first they take a long time and packed poorly most of time. hard to get a refund. they say they'll send it this time but they don't do it well. there might be people who have good luck with the online nursery but i know number of people who haven't. so i said to myself never again. wherever you are there should be a big nurseries. i prefer nursery than home depot, they just have more choices. you should be able to fine pretty much anything in a big nursery. small nurserys are just ok. go for the reputable big garden center. i think vines are just about the best. growing from the seeds might be kind late, but you live in zone 9- so it might not be late. morning glorys grow real fast . if you can't find seedlings you could try to grow from the seeds. they like it sunny, but in the shade/partial shade ivy can be versitile and very east to grow. plants you see in your local nurseries are the plants you could grow in your area. so just pick things that looks good to you and read instruction on the tag and do extra research. get a copy of container gardening book that also has plant guide and you'll be totally set to go. i'm a first time gardener this year and i just learned so much by doing that. if you go through the container gardening forum, some where in/ around may(???) there's a post where tons of people gave out their potting soil reciepy. it's the best. it'll be the total guide for you to start. good luck.

My Balsamina plants reseed so well that I have to pull out hundreds to eliminate over crowding. I just love them and always offer seeds to friends. They offer a lot of color when I cut down the finished bleeding hearts.

The description for that tree indicates a full sized (or almost full sized) tree. With the size restrictions you want, you will need a dwarf tree of some sort. So look for someone selling an espaliered tree on dwarfing rootstock. As Paul said, an espaliered tree requires more attention.

3 plants that seem to be growing inflorescence have better color in newest leaves too - so they could be recovering well. Fungus gnats like moist soil, that has some organic material in it. I mentioned before that plants you showed in post about air roots looked like they are too wet. Keeping top dryer by using some grit helps, since they like laying eggs in moist soil. Just watch that soil under it doesn't stay wet for too long. I would also make sure that top dressing is just gravel; if there are any finer materials mixed in (like sand or peat) or some areas not covered by it, fungus gnats will 'wiggle' in there. Once you repot into well draining gritty mix, you probably won't need any top-dressing. I keep it on because I use lots of perlite; and it tends to float to the top slowly. Gravel will prevent it from flying around if bit windy. There are ppl that are against using top-dressing. If soil below is water retaining, it probably won't help at all and I would agree about not using it. I am not sure how long before new growth - some plants take really long time. But it could be good idea to keep leaves on, even if broken or scratched- they will help makin more food. I would take off any that are mushy - rotting - waterlogged. Otherwise, they will eventually start drying up and shrivelling when old enough. Hopefully someone with much more experience with growing many different Haworthias will chime in....I have only few, and I did kill few with overwatering...