Agreed. The oak might be Quercus nigra.

Thanks for the help! Wish the oak wasn't growing through a mature tree, I'd much rather have it than a crepe myrtle. I was hoping you guys would tell me the privet was a carolina laurel so I could justify keeping it. Time to break out the loppers...

The smilax is a menace in my landscape. A few more weeks of growing and you will need gloves to pull - sharp tiny thorns that go to the ground. It is an aggressive climber.

Eeek.....smilax! Get rid of it!

Smilax has a very resistant underground root system and must be dug to eradicate. Some of these can be immense, and I have dug some as big as small watermelons from relatively small surface vines..

They laugh at Roundup ! Although in its natural environment, its a food source for whitetailed deer.