Consider a European plum or two. The most common issues with them here are plum curculio, if you live in their range, and brown rot. You might get one Stanley-type prune plum and a Gage type.

Thomis -- a couple of things:

1) figs are on their own roots, grown from cuttings. I don't think there are any dwarf varieties, but they are often kept cut back to smaller sizes, since they fruit on new wood as well as old in the same year.

2) Kaki is just the species, Diospyros kaki, Asian persimmon, not a specific variety the way, say 'Fuyu' or "Hichaya' is.

Just Fruits and Exotics Nursery in Florida is a great place to buy persimmons and other trees. Their prices are a bit higher than some places, but they ship VERY LARGE, well established and branched plants IN THE POT (which also adds to shipping costs a bit, but you know it will grow). I bought some persimmons from them 2 years ago, and they were beautiful, large, healthy plants and very well packaged. They ship in the fall and winter, due to being located in Florida. I see the DWARF Asian persimmon they offer is sold out for this year, unfortunately, but I'm sure if you e-mailed them they could tell you which of their other offerings are more compact growers. It is my understanding that none of the Asians get as large as the American trees do.

Here is a link that might be useful: Just Fruits and Exotics Nursery Persimmon Selections 2010

I have a Black Jack fig that seems to naturally stay at 8 feet tall and wide with very minimal pruning. Probably it would do okay with a lot more pruning on my part if I wanted to keep it smaller, but I'm lazy. In my experience it is a very good tasting fig which is also suitable for drying.

Other great tasting natural dwarf figs are Negronne (aka Violete de Bordeaux) and Ischia Green. I have tasted Negronne this summer and it is out of this world, but mine is only one year old in a pot so far. Ischia Green is a variety I plan on ordering myself for next season based on its reputation for flavor and small tree size. You can get all of these figs from Bay Laurel nursery or Raintree, and probably many other sources as well.

Thank you all, for the skinny on figs and asian persimmons.

How do they rank as far as sunlight requirements? I mean, I know I cannot expect apples if the trees get less than 6 or 7 hours of direct sun. Is it the same way for figs and Asian persimmons? I have spots for these guys that will get 5 hours of constant sun, but that's about it.

I plan on growing the figs on the backside of the house, against it.

I'm also planning on adding blueberries and I remember reading that they can tolerate a fair amount of shade.