White Birch are not a drought tolerant tree, so if you are losing junipers to dry soil then you probably shouldn't count on a birch doing well. Limestone rock means that your soil ph may be on the alkaline side, and this doesn't mean that your soil is poisonous, but you should avoid trees/plants that like a more acidic or neutral soil. If you want to be more certain of what your soil type actually is, go to a local nursery or garden/hardware store and get yourself a simple soil testing ph kit. An Eastern Redbud is probably more flexible about soil type, but will still need some watering the first couple of seasons if you get regular prolonged periods without rain, and you don't have much depth of soil over the rock. You might also check out some other flowering trees such as Chionanthus, and I am not sure whether Crepe Myrtle, Lagerstroemia indica or L. fauriei would be hardy in your area. I bet there are some on line resources for West Virginia such as your local agricultural extension office, or a master gardener's group, that could point you in the right direction for best trees for your area. If you really want the birch, plant them somewhere with moister soil and access to water, as they like to grow near water/creeks.

You've got the right idea. You can tie or weigh vertical branches down so that they will start fruiting in future years, or if it will be too much trouble doing that, or if there are too many verticals that will just shade the lower branches too much, you can just prune them off. You'll probably need to do the same thing each and every year for the life of the tree if you want to maximize fruiting wood and sunlight penetration into the lower portions of the tree. In the end, it's your tree, and it's up to you how much effort you want to put into training it and pruning it into the form that you want, because the tree doesn't know what's best for you -- the tree basically only knows how to grow either up or out in a response to maximize sunlight to all its leaves, not to the fruit or fruit buds. It is therefore up to you, and not the tree, to shape the tree any way that you want, to maximize fruiting and sunlight penetration, or whatever your goal is. Prune that puppy into shape. Or not. It's your tree and your decision. And you can take pleasure in all of it, from stick to bud to fruit to stomach.

I'm definitely no expert but here's my thoughts. A tree's goal is to get to sunlight. That is their "food". Understory trees in the forest do not grow straight up, they go in the direction they need to get sunlight. The bricks you have surrounding the trees block most morning and afternoon sunlight - the only time it's in full sun is when the sun is straight overhead. In which case in an upright tree the upper leaves will shade the lower leaves. By growing off to the side it can collect more sunlight to feed itself. Once it starts growing above the bricks the new growth might right itself.. if not you can try cutting the main shoot just above a bud pointing up and let that bud take over. The way to make a tree grow stronger is to let it sway in the wind. Of course depending how strong the wind is it can also permanently deform a tree. And some trees are naturally stronger than others. I don't believe that staking it aggressively now will cause any permanent harm. Once this growth turns woody and starts to build strength you can leave it staked but loosen it so that it can sway a little bit. Just make sure as the tree grows not to let the stake ties strangle it. Eventually you'll be able to remove the stake. Also remember that when the trunk is 6 inches in diameter, you will not be able to notice any minor waviness that it will have after staking. Best of luck to you.. that looks like a challenging environment for gardening.

All i can tell you is not to waste your efforts to try and straighten the already leaning fronds. If your palm was container grown, it is probably leaning because the container wasn't set straight. Those existing fronds will only last a couple of months and will eventually be replaced by new fronds. No matter what you do, once you release the pressure, the fronds will go back to the way they were. At the very most, those existing fronds will only last until this following fall, then they will begin to turn yellow and eventually dry up. It's the new fronds that I would stress about growing straight/symetrical. What i would do is make sure the "trunk" is planted straight, and maybe even stake it on three or four sides to keep the "trunk" straight.