My daughter lives in Spring and they bought a Water Oak last year, seems to be doing very well. Here in the San Antonio area, a 45 gallon tree bought, delivered, hole dug and staked would be $300-$500, according to my local nursery.

In the Austin area, the Live Oaks seem to be the most popular of the oaks, at least in new development areas.

I think nurserys overcharge for planting trees. The secret to planting large trees is to rent a hand held demolition hammer from HD. You can have the holes dug in a matter of minutes with no hard back work. Let the tool do the work and just keep shoveling out the broken dirt. Avoid the post hole augers, they will just get stuck and don't handle hard clay as easily.

Great info. I will check into hand held demolition hammer. Thank you very much