In case Tony/Incognito doesn't answer right away about the herbicide impregnated root barrier, this product is used in urban street plantings where surface rooting is to be discouraged, and it actually does last for a very long time, but would probably need to extend at least 2 to 3 feet down vertically, or until you hit bedrock or a soil depth where there isn't enough oxygen in the soil to encourage tree root growth. The possibility always exists that tree roots can still grow under it and then into the new area, but typically it is the main principal roots that tend to serve as anchor roots for the tree's stability that do the most damage to pavement, and on older trees like pines these tend to stay near the surface, but that will vary greatly on your soil type and soil moisture conditions at different depths. Your arborist/consultant should be able to advise you more specifically if this herbicide impregnated root barrier makes sense to add against the new curb/wall to help protect it. I wouldn't rule out other sun loving bromeliads for this sunny situation, things like the more terrestrial growing Puya or Dyckia species might be good choices, and it also sounds like this thin soil, sunny area full of tree roots might be an excellent location for clumps of Agaves such as A. bracteosa, A. 'Sharkskin' or A. parryii cultivars, or in combination with things like Echeveria agavoides or Bulbine frutescens. Aloes such as A. saponaria or A. striata would also do well there. All of these plants would grow better if planted in a new layer of topsoil added over the tree roots, and given at least a monthly periodic good soak, or more often depending on how quickly/lushly you prefer them to look. California natives such as Mimulus aurantiacus, Salvia clevelandii or S. leucophylla 'Pt. Sal' could also look good here, or even more adventurous plantings like Metrosideros collina 'Springfire' or Metrosideros collina 'Tahiti'. A really cool looking green fuzzy flowered Aloe such as A. tomentosa would probably also do well there, or other Aloes such as A. castanea, A. camperi, A. rubroviolacea or A. vanbalenii.

Hornbean trees Frans Fontaine Hornbeam; that is, if you are patient enough to wait for them to get past their almost awkwardly sparce canopy look for the first 5 years after planting. Fastigatia Hornbeam if after 15 years you do not mind it's crown starting its doubling or more of its crown spread. Ornamental Corinthian peach trees are nice trees, that grow in a narrow columnar shape, they have the most lovely spring blooms. The Bloom color varieties available in the Corinthian peach culitvar come in Pink, red, or white, each of those also display dynamic leaf color changes throughout progression of the yearly growing seasons. Another tree, I like a lot to line a driveway is the Degroot's spire evergreen. It might be good to know that the degroot's spire evergreens I have found sold, are fairly expensive, due to their slow growth rate. In the right planting places where these trees will look the best, it is my opinion that the expensive pricing is well worth every penny that was charged for them. I am not certain if they would ever grow, tall enough to provide second story window privacy. If they did manage to grow that tall it would more likely take several decades, or longer. I planted my first two Degroot's Spires just less than three years ago, and they were first sold to me as 5-6 feet tall trees. Each cost just about $250. these trees had been field grown, balled and burlaped. their burlapped rootballs fit into 25 - 30 gallon sized nursey pots. The nursery agreed to povide free delivery, if I would have the planting holes ready for them to simply remove the wire basket around the trees rootballs and drop the them into the planting hole. Only, also, if I would agree to take on the responsiblity to then back-fill the planting hole, and afterwards to keep the trees watered properly.

Those are cool houses. Looks like a street with some character. Architecturally speaking, agree with the others calling for a tall, vase-shaped tree. Or at least a tree that can be limbed up to expose a tall trunk. That would be the best way to blend the driveway/hardscaping in with the tall houses. A tall tree (>45') recommended for street planting in your area would be the way to go. Something top-heavy w/ strong branches that isn't too litter-messy (especially weak branched). The old elm would be perfect there - some experts are giving the green light to the new elm culitvars for DED resistance, so they might be worth a shot. Or parviflora elm. Agree with others that an upright Ginkgo is a nice fit, but it's definitely a waiting game with Ginkgos. Another option would be an oak that does not get too wide, such as shumard or nuttall. You don't want anything with low branching or that is columnar for that site. Small (

bob I just went through this with our build which finished in dec 08. Our house is in the blueridge mtns of VA - and we had a very dense lot of trees with a lot of nasty brush. We also had no idea of what we were getting into when we bought this lot and my goodness - and it was a tremendous amount of debris that had to be removed. I wish we had thought about this first - but I leraned a few things that might help. The big problem with a lot like ours is that when you start to push brush out of the way it piles up very quickly. The brush pile can get so large that a wheeled tractor might not be able to push it. We started with a medium size bulldozer with a blade to cut the driveway and allow us to get back to where the house would be located - about 700 feet in from the main road. The brush that was ripped (and you need to make sure they rip the roots out of the ground) was pushed into a large pile which the dozer ran over many times to compact. It really wasn't that hard for the operator to avoid the medium and large trees - but the smaller trees in the drive had to go anyway and the dozer just pulled those right out of the ground. So after step 1 - we had a rough cut drive and a large debris pile which was tucked away in a portion of the lot where we could hide it. It is a great idea to locate that spot before you start and think about access to it after the house project is done. Then the big machines came in to clear out the septic field and house site. This was a large dozer, a large back hoe, and a large chipper. They cut the trees down with chain saws so that they had long logs - about 20 feet each - which they neatly piled in 2 out of the way places on the lot (they were out of the way but could be accessed easily later.) The crowns and branches of the trees were cut up and run through the chipper. The root balls were dug up with the back hoe and pushed to the front of the brush pile where they could be accessed later. The additional brush was pulled up and added to end of the brush pile. When they were done clearing the various types of debirs each type was piled seperately. And each of these piles could be accessed by trucks and heavy equipment later for disposal - without tearing up my yard or driveway. You can burn brush but we opted to not go that route. Aside from the very strict fire codes and special requirements by the fire marshall when you do a large open burn - we were affraid to start a forrest fire. Once you get one of these piles on fire, you can try and contain them (if you have the right equipment in place and build a proper pit) but the embers are going to fly. We just didn't want to risk it. If you start a fire you are liable for any damage. Our strategy is to let the brush pile rot for a few years and we will then have the large pieces removed (big pieces of trees and root balls) but the rest will be crushed and either burried on the site or crushed by the machines and spread out on the lot as mulch. Once the brush has been weathered a lot of it will decompose and fall apart when it is run over by a large machine. Since they piled the parge piecs at the front of the pile and the smaller stuff at the back of the pile, we have some sense of order for attacking it. For our future clearing efforts, i plan on using a light machine (tractor, skid steer, or bob cat) to clear out brush and a smaller chipper to grind it down. With these smaller machines, I can avoid ripping small trees that I might want to keep and will certainly maneuver around large trees. Once I get the brush and smaller stuff ripped out and chipped, then I will bring in the lumber jacks to take out some trees. I will have the logs cut and piled, and chip the crown and branches just like my excavator did. I plan on doing this over a number of years, in smaller manageable chunck of land, so that I don't wind up with a giant pile of debris like I had when we first cleared. It is a good thing you are planning this now. I wish I had the foresight to see what happened and we counted on the builder to deal with it. He had a plan - but I am not happy with the end result. Some of that big brush pile is hidden in the woods but there is a good chunck of it that I can see when I look out the front of my house (that is beacuse we started to run out of room on the 1.5 acres in the front of the lot where we piled all this stuff). I need to have a portion of that brush pile removed because I am tired of looking at the mess. A DR machine might not be big enough for your clearing project - especially the first cuts you need to make for the drive, septic, and house site. I could see going in there first with a bob cat just or skid steer to clear a path so you can walk into the lot and site things - and those machines are very easy to steer around small trees. When you start to rip out stuff to clear larger areas - you will need a beefier machine like a dozer. Best of luck with he project.