Cisco, your area can have pretty shallow soil, but if there are native pecans, then you also have some deeper loamy soils as well. Personally, I would stay away from Willows. You will be fighting them anyway trying to come up along the bank. They are very fast growing, weak trees. It's really hard to beat the oak family. Red Oak for fall color and Burr oak and Chinquapin oak for variety. Live oaks are ok, but require pruning. The Bald Cypress have nice fall color and can be planted next to the pond or in the shallow end. The Elms will drip sap(so called p*ss elms) much like the Pecans. Here are pics of fairly young trees I have planted over the last 12 years, This is a Shumardi Red oak
this is a Burr Oak and the large acorns they have
This is a Chinquapin Oak that's been planted for one year and hasn't started filling out yet, along with a picture of the bark
These are Bald Cypress right along the pond bank. They have been planted about 10 years. They are succeptable to bag worms and get knotty growths on their roots that surface, but are a fine tree
Hope this helps...du
