Good to know about staghorn sumac! It’s grown as an ornamental here, and I was considering growing a tree of it because it’s edible. If it suckers and runs a whole lot, though – nah! I’ll just forage the berries. 
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It’s likely that you’ll get significant rain at some point. In the meanwhile, you could dig swales to capture and sink as much of the rain as you can get. Usually most of water is lost as runoff in major rain events, so making provision to capture and store it when it comes will help a lot. See “Rainwater Harvesting for Drylands and Beyond” by Brad Lancaster.
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Yes. I need to dig some swales and rain basins for sure!
Occasionally in my area, you will see vetch climbing along a fence, it’s very pretty. But my dad hated it. Specifically, in a hayfield, because of its vineyness, it would tangle in the mower blades, and make mowing difficult.
American vetch? Or is it a different vetch species?
(Laugh.) I can easily see vines being a pest in an area you want to mow.
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I’m sorry, I actually know nothing! 
I just remember as a kid, Dad would kind of shake his head and cuss “vetch.” I doubt if he would have cared anything about species, if it was vetch, then vetch bad. But he was only thinking of his hayfield, and he had a thing for a perfectly mown field. So something that would clog up the mower and leave a strip of grass, that was akin to evil, almost. But you read a lot of things about how good it is for a ground cover, and it is pretty.
Ha ha ha! American vetch seems likely, but there are others it could have been! It’s entirely possible it was more than one species, and he didn’t care which.
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Exactly!
Plants that stand full scorching sun the whole day are few and below. Those in the tree category are called ‘shade trees’ for a reason.
I’ve read that the traditional andalousian garden is located in the patios of the houses, precisely for the protection plants receive from the walls: less wind, less heat, some shade.
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And if you can couple that with living mulch to keep the soil moister . . . that might change the microclimate significantly!