New to an area. My thoughts to you are to be observative of the trees in your area. You will probably find out you will find some native trees aready there that you would be pleased with.

Myself, I'm partial to the Live Oak, Southern Red Oak, and Pin Oak. Dave

Check these out:

Shantung Maple
Lacey Oak
Chinkapin Oak
Chinese Pistache
Texas Lilac Vitex

Here is a link that might be useful: Texas SuperStar Plants

Shantung maple would be a good tree.

Here is a link that might be useful: Metro Maples

When I was on the faculty of Valdosta State University in the mid-1980's, I grew to appreciate the Chinese elm (_Ulmus parvifolia_) as a fantastically beautiful small tree. At VSU, the graceful Chinese elm was then used in the landscaping at the front of the Odum Library. It is a deciduous tree with pendulous branches and beautifully exfoliating bark. In South Georgia, Florida, and other parts of the coastal South, the Chinese elm tends to be almost evergreen. There, it is tardily deciduous. In cooler Southeastern climates, its leaves fall much earlier than in deep South Georgia. In the spring, Chinese elm is one of the earliest trees to leaf out. Its new leaves are, thus, a herald of spring.

I liked the tree so much that I collected seedlings from the VSU campus and planted them back home in northwestern SC, where they've grown into mature specimens during the past twenty-five, or so, years, with progeny of their own. Floridata has a fine description of Chinese elm. Google the phrase _floridata chinese elm_ to pull it up, no pun intended. The essay is illustrated with a fine picture of the tree's gorgeous exfoliating bark.

Acorns and berries and cones are what usually attract wildlife. Nuts are more for squirrels/deer, berries more for birds/squirrels. However most oak trees become large.
Not sure exactly how small you are looking for, but here's some additional native suggestions :

Mexican Plum - 25-30' Some fall color/white showy flowers
Flameleaf Sumac - 15-20' dependable red fall color
Red Mulberry -35-45' quick growing

Thanks everyone. You gave me enough to get going on a more detailed plan.

I highly recommend shantung maple. Easy to grow and grows fast at first then slows down later on. Nice fall color.

Lacey Oak - Very SLOW growing...
Chinkapin Oak - NOT small tree...
Chinese Pistache - female is reportedly INVASIVE...
Texas Lilac Vitex - Not too impressed plus reports of invasive...

first.. decide what you want to do in the soil below the tree .... in the future ...

if you have an dream of gardening under a tree ... stay away from maple ... or at least research that aspect ....

otherwise.. maples are a nice lawn tree ... wait.. some will even kill the lawn .. and when you can out-compete grass.. you are a super competitor ....

ken

Ken,

You've never grown shantung maple so what makes you an expert on it? Don't give us BS on sliver maples,etc. Not all maples are same.

Large-growing ones like Bigleaf, Norway, Silver and Sugar maples are the ones that tend to dominate - and not the smaller-growing kinds like Japanese, Korean and Vine maples.