Nancy, here's your planting plan

Once your landscaper pulls the dead peach, we'll put a Meyer lemon in the same spot. Of all the lemons, Meyer is the one I'd pick for a home yard here. It stays compact at about 8 to 10 feet tall and wide, it handles our cold snaps better than Lisbon or Eureka, it has far fewer thorns, and it produces a lot of fruit. The lemons are a little sweeter and thinner skinned than what you'd buy at the store, which most people end up preferring.

Fall is still the best time to plant citrus here. It gives the roots the whole cool season to get established before summer heat hits, so the tree goes into its first summer settled in and ready for it. The only extra step is covering it with frost cloth if we get a night below freezing this first winter. After that first year it handles the cold much better on its own.

Honeysuckle does great in this bed, so we're running six new ones along the wall as one continuous planting, in place of the two existing plants. In front of them goes a lower row of four plants.

For the front row, here are a few options that all handle this west exposure and pair well with the orange honeysuckle. They're all the same size and price, so pick whichever you like best, or mix two of them.

While we're out, we'll also expose the root flares on your lime and orange trees, at no additional charge. The root flare is where the trunk widens out into the main roots, and it should sit right at the soil line. When soil and mulch build up against it over the years, the bark stays damp and the tree slowly struggles. Pulling that soil back lets the tree breathe, take up water the way it should, and grow into a bigger, longer lived tree.