I would use as many native plant that appealed to me.Grand Bay National Research Reserve has a book that list many of those plants. NERR has its headquarters in Pecan MS. which is right across the MS/AL state line. Needless to say, they are a wealth of knowledge. Maybe because it's there job.
lynn

Honeybell tangelo.

Hi OTF,

I too am just a few miles from Dauphin Island and last spring while visiting there I spotted a tree with the most beautiful, exotic looking blooms on it. It was planted on the south side of a house and was about 15 feet tall, covered in pale pink/lavender colored blooms. The picture in this link is not it exactly but very close.

Susan, thanks for the info re: the nursery. I've not been there before but that will soon be rectified. :)

Sherry

Here is a link that might be useful: Purple orchid tree

Okay, now that I've got a cup or three of coffee under my belt ;), let me clarify: the tree I saw was definitely a bauhinia though it's flowers didn't look exactly like the purplish flowers in the link.

It may be Hardy Hibiscus?

Hi islandmanmitch--

No, it was definitely a bauhinia; it also had the distinctive, somewhat heartshaped leaves and hanging seed pods. I had never seen one here before and had to contact someone from the Mobile Botanical Gardens to help me identify it. I would imagine D.I and similar locales right on the Gulf would be the only place here they'd do really well.

The flowers in this link are more representative of what I saw on D.I.

Here is a link that might be useful: bauhinia

I went to the link and there is no doubt it is very pretty.It also says
"This tree is categorized as invasive and disruptive of native plant habitats in Florida, and should not be planted in that state.
That rules it out for me even though I don't think it could really be invasive in Northwest Florida. I don't want to take a chance introducing anything else to our area. I never realized how many invasive plants we have until a couple of weeks ago. I took a friend from China to my families private shooting range. When we were leaving she remarked the place reminded her of China. I asked how so and she pointed out six different plant species from China. That is just the ones from China in a small area where nothing had been intentionally planted but were all volunteers. What else is growing there from elsewhere? Woke me up. I didn't mean to get started on invasive's but I'm still in shock.