re: Anything better than sawtooth oaks?

Depends where you are and the soil/water conditions - ridge vs bottom, etc. A few possibilities could be swamp chestnut oak, nutall, shumard, willow oak, paw paw for understory, mulberry, mayhaw, white oak. Black walnut is beautiful but roots release substance that can negatively impact other plantings nearby - could be an issue, but might not. Just something to think about. I ordered a pretty big order of various seedlings from a guy nearby and will be planting around home and in pasture in the late winter. Mainly species described above with a few varieties of magnolia.