Thanks for the suggestions! blakrab: Diciduous is ok. I'm surrounded by evergreens, so it's nice to have some diversity. not sure if we have any other open space to plant more though (property is overrun by coast live oak which sprout like weeds here. Every year I pull out about 20-30 saplings, and seems like I'm making no dent in the growth density here... every few years I have to have one cut down since they start crowding eachother too much). I'll take a close look at the Texas persimmon. Is that anything like the persimmons you find sold in stores? (orange fruit)? There are few of those in the area. if so, may be there'll be enough in the area without having to plant another in our lot... hoobv: it's a pretty densely vegetated hillside property, so fire is always a concern. But never really thought bout tree-fire exposure (we're usually more concerned with shrub/grass fire). I said 15ft, but just looked at the survey map, and it seems like it's actually more like 25 ft from the house. making a terrace is an interesting idea. the tree can be taller, as long as it's the type that is conducive to shaping/height reduction management. but taller tree usually means faster growth (may be) and hard to manage? and thank you for the tree selection guide. I'll ahve to take a look at that. An arborist who just came by recommended chinese pistachio. He said around here, it doesn't get much bigger than about 25ft or so, and has great fall foliage, drought tolerant.. doesnt require too much water in the summer so won't hurt the juniper either (I called it juniper, but arborist said cypress, so... hmm). The tree sounded good until I found out that it has a potential of growing to 60ft.. i'll have to do more research on that tree.

Adding sand can permanently help clay soil, but only if you're willing to add a lot. I've read that you need to add as much as 45% sand. Adding too little can actually make things worse. Only add sand if you're prepared to add enough to help. If you do add sand, make sure it's coarse sand. Adding organic matter (OM) is temporary, because it breaks down. But it never makes things worse. Adding a little OM makes things a little better. Adding a lot of OM makes things a lot better. The advantage is that it can't make it worse. The disadvantage is that you need to do it every year. Many tree trimming services have to pay to dump the shredded limbs that they have. They're usually happy to deliver truckloads for free, since it saves them dump fees (this is a big part of why Starbucks wants to give away as many grounds as possible). The "drawback" to getting the shredded limbs is that you usually have to be prepared to take a full truckload. If I were to do that, I'd have a tough time using it all--I could spread it on my lawn, but it would take a long time, because I'd be doing it manually. In your case, you could just pile it on top of your plot. You probably don't want to till the shredded trees into the soil, because that can cause the wood to "rob" nitrogen from the soil to decompose. If you pile it on top, it'll use nitrogen from the air instead, but will still help loosen the soil. If you've got access to a lot of manure, you could use the manure and the shredded trees to do lasagna gardening. Or, it you want to till, since the manure is fairly high N, you could till the manure and tree shredding together, and the manure would supply the N for the decomposition. Many people prefer a no till approach to organic hardening, though.

Well, good old pines are still a good choice although I would mix them with other things. As Alex said, Wax Myrtle (Morella cerifera) is a great choice, and Cherry Laurel (Prunus caroliniana) is nice. Other ideas: Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana) American Holly (Ilex opaca) Inkberry (Ilex glabra) A good source of low cost seedlings is Georgia Forestry Commission where you can buy packs of 50 pine seedlings for $16 in the fall. They also sell wax myrtle (which are surprisingly tall for seedlings). Hope that helps.

That question I might ask your nursery from where your'e getting it from. Generally, I find pears don't mind growing in clay...sandy clay is mine on Siberian stock..not sure about dwarfing, in the harsh north we need all the vigor we cant get so a dwarfing I like to stay away...short live span also.