The area that floods might do well with a weeping cherry, but make sure to place it far away from the house that the roots would not interfer with you foundation, as far as the branches go out the roots go out that far. The silver maple is a very fast growing but shallow rooted tree. I am not sure I would keep it in an area that is wet and if you had high winds could blow it over on the house. Hollys usually come back just keep pruning it back to the shape you want and be patient. If you do take it out dig it out or the stump will sprout. Since you soil is a bit more sandy than Nothern VA you could also look at crepe mrytle, but a warning once planted you can not I repeat not get rid of them they come back from the dead and if they shed flowers on while cement you get a brown stain. The shade trees are usually maples but not the silver kind. Check in Williamsburg with the horticultural center attached to colonial williamsburg they might have a few ideas for faster growing shade trees and might also be able help you find a decent nursery. Good luck, love the area you are in

Most building depts concerning zero clearance fireplaces go strictly by the mfgr's recommendations as far as codes go and clearances. If your framing members meet the required clearance(s) suggested by the mfgr, then no need for dry wall, BUT... I drywalled all around our areas for peace of mind, especially in the areas such as yours on the back & side walls where you have insulation.On the back and sides it doesn't have to be 5/8" firecode rock, because the real purpose is just to keep the insulation from having the chance to loosen and fall against the unit.It wouldn't have to be drywall even, it could be 1/4" plywood, but i went with 1/2 rock because it was handily available.If you have the room to drywall, i would go with that.I would also run a tape coat just to seal all the seams/joints. As far as the trim/doors, my thought is that you can over trim, but that is only my opinion.

I'd be more worried about the standing water than the clay. If the wood chips stay wet all the time I would think some of those seedlings will suffer. If the chips are new you may have a problem with them stunting the seedlings the first year. They tend to suck up all the nitrogen when they first start to break down. They are usually completely broken down by 18 months. There are plenty of people out there growing plants in worse conditions so you should have an easy job of turning this spot into a flowerbed. Some of the plants on your list will be small their first year (Asclepias tuberosa for one); some won't come back after they're done blooming (Bachelor buttons); some should have been planted in the fall in order to sprout in the Spring (the US prairie natives) and some need to be planted in the beginning of Summer (Cuphea). It always works best to start things indoors and then transplant them outside when the weather finally warms up if at all possible. If that isn't gonna happen then you can just toss the seed out there and see what comes up and weed out the weaklings. No matter what you do, it will be prettier than what it looks like now!

Thanks, David, but I figured this out thanks to advice from my KD. We moved the 2 cans to the other side of the joist. She had designed them to be 54" OC (9' ceilings, forgot that part of the formula when I was stressing yesterday) and in their new location, they'll be 57" OC. Close enough for the remodeling game. If we run into a similar situation for another room, I will definitely keep disc lights in mind.