Thanks so much for all your wonderful suggestions. The soil is a sandy loam, not sand hills. It is a bit on the alkaline side as with much of the soil in our area needing a ton or so of lime every few years to maintain a good agricultural balance, so, should do well for the acid loving plants. Thank goodness the deer don't seem to like our roses and azaleas so far. They have not generally been a problem in our area. Of course, one never knows, they may very well take a liking to the roses and azaleas. We have quite a few wild muscadines and while the deer to love them, It would appear to me that we have plenty of wild ones that it won't be too bad sharing some cultivated ones as well. With the fruiting trees, they would really be more for the deer than for humans. Our consumption needs are very light but we do really love watching the deer and turkeys. BTW, I'm not so much seeking free advice as simply open discussion. I know the landscapers in our area (very limited) and I know their plant selections well. Mine tend to be a bit more diverse than theirs. Most of our landscapers, all 2 or 3 of them, tend to use primarily the old evergreen stuff. Not exactly to my liking. I am familiar with the problems associated with Bradford Pears and have seem some of them locally. However, the wife wants some so it is likely she will win that one. I will have to give the evergreen tree business some thought. Notice from the photos that the southern and western boundaries are Pine Tree plantations. We live in the heart of pine plantations. If I choose an evergreen, it will have to be something like leyland cypress (we have already planted several cypress on the north side of the pond) or maybe a different type pine. An uncle about 2 miles away has some which have a more northern or mountain look which have trived. I believe they are white pine, will have to check more into that. Again, with respect to the deer, I have lived in the area 50 years and they don't seem too partial to the roses, azaleas or camellias in our area. Who knows, they may wind up liking ours but if they do, we'll probably enjoy watching the deer. I like man of johnofsedona's suggestions and will continue to think about plant selection and group composition. As for as my goals, I like the varying heights, different forms and flowers for all the seasons. I like the varied island look. There are a few homes in the area which have similarly long drives with limited islands and there are ones which have long drives lined with pears or other plant material. I prefer the islands. I suspect we will include different varieties of naturalized daffodils as time goes on. We MAY also add wildflowers but probably not as we prefer a little more "clean" and organized look for the drive. We WILL have a wildflower meadow, probably near the pond on the north and east area there. I'll do some more thinking this weekend. Thanks for your contributions. The pictures in the link above should give you some idea to our tastes and the area. Sincerely, Joel

Coming to the party a little late but with a couple of comments. The crape in the first pic does not look like 'Catawba' ... which is much more violet colored. It looks more like 'Zuni' or possibly 'Twilight', both of which are a little lighter and a hair bluer. Also, the Lowe's picture (just before the last one posted) is not an accurate picture of 'Purple Magic.' These pictures that are created to sell plants based on color are frequently doctored -- just slightly -- so that the color appears to be more like what people are craving ... a true purple. It doesn't exist. 'Purple Magic' is almost indistinguishable from 'Catawba'. But it is one tiny shade more intense which makes it the most purple to date. When it first blooms. 'Purple Magic' is more like deep violet, but as the bloom fade they take on a bluish caste which "purpleizes" them a degree more. One feature of PM is that it is a looooooong blooming plant. So far, for me, it is the longEST blooming crape I've had. I don't dislike it at all. If I was naming -- in the interest of accuracy -- I'd call it 'Catawba Improved.' When they get a crape the color of Jacaranda, then they will have purple. D'bloomers (pic above) if a crape doesn't bloom well -- as they are a very free, easy blooming species -- it's almost always because they get too much shade or lack phosphorous in the fertilizer (which must be administered ongoing in the season PRIOR to bloom.) Don't fertilize it once next year expecting good results. Fertilize it this year (regularly) and expect results next year. it acts more like a dietary supplement than it does V i a g r a. This post was edited by Yardvaark on Sun, Aug 3, 14 at 21:30

The Fanick's Crape Myrtle Chart borrowed by TAMU for their site includes fall colors and is likely based on performance in San Antonio (8b) which may or may not apply to neighboring zones. I do know our CM fall color seems much better in Dallas than it was in Houston. Would help to know roughly where you are in the state so that you can get local recommendations. Noticed fall color for 'Arapaho' is listed as "N/A" in Fanick's chart, but don't know if that means "Not Available" (unknown) or "Not Applicable" (no color) - am guessing the former based on Texan Gal's input..

Have also been very happy with the two Mara already mentioned. Can also check for (or make) comments about particular suppliers on the GW Rate & Review Vendors forum. Almost Eden in LA and Mail-Order Natives in FL are two others that have delivered nice plants from interesting inventories. Dogwooderitternet in AR sells a variety of good quality starter-size plants through their ebay store; though do have to hunt harder for their natives as they've added more exotics over the years. Shipping really hurts cost for larger size plants, so shrubs and trees we could only obtain by mail have easily been 3 or 4 years behind sizes we'd have bought if available at a local nursery. Good suppliers will know when/how they can reliably ship to your address; slower (lower cost) options might be available for larger items in the cooler months, but most of the small stuff now does fine year-round with 2 or 3 day delivery. Edit: Have had 3 plant orders misrouted or lost over the years and the suppliers have made good on all but 1. That was for a gift tree someone sent us from an Amazon partner that would never disclose their physical address. Unfortunately you can no longer submit a USPS insurance claim without the sender's address and the replacement they claimed to have sent never showed up at the address we confirmed. So, would be very cautious buying online from anyone not established enough to either disclose physical contact info or work through an enforcing intermediary like ebay.