I was wondering about the Sequoia and Redwood myself. I figure, since they're far from native, there's every chance they'll be awful here but then again, all good naturalized and healthy imports had to start somewhere. Japanese maple sure aren't native but do great in nice shady spots.

Some conifers do great here, some not so much. I'll check my list later about those. If you can get a hold of Howard's book Plants for Texas or even better the new Texas Trees book, that'll likely answer your question.