Cherry Laurel is an native alternative for waxleaf ligustrum. Mountain laurel will grow in that spot but is not a fast grower but once it does it is evergreen and very nice. Strawberry guava, Salvia regla will get close to 8' in time but it will like only quick draining soils. Texas barberry, Wax Myrtle is a great alternative. One can train it into a small multi trunk tree as it gets older and get something going underneath it . But it does make a hedge also. Rusty Blackhaw is a beauty and will take afternoon sun . Carolina buckthorn. Texas persimmon ( beautiful peeling bark), This post was edited by wantonamara on Sat, Jun 22, 13 at 13:31

No, definately not. Raw chicken marinade should not be mixed with cooking chicken. Throw it out and use fresh marinade for basting.

And here's the other Bob Gibson's, lilliepad, in detail Big Bob Gibson's Hickory-Smoked Chicken 1 cup mayonnaise 1 cup apple cider vinegar 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 1/2 tablespoons cracked black pepper 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt, finely ground 1/4 teaspoon cayenne 1 whole chicken, cut in half Finely ground kosher salt and ground black pepper 1/2 cup vegetable oil To prepare the sauce: Combine all the first six ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Place in an airtight container or bottle and refrigerate until you're ready to use. Keeps up to 4 days. To prepare the chicken: Wash the chicken and season it liberally with salt and pepper. Smoke over hot coals and hickory wood at 300 to 350 degrees for 3 to 4 hours or until the internal temperature reaches 170 degrees. Halfway through the smoking process, baste the chicken with oil and sprinkle with salt and pepper once more. After you take the chicken off the pit, immediately place it in the bowl of white sauce, turning the chicken to coat evenly. Place the chicken on a cake rack and allow it to rest for a few minutes prior to serving. Discard any sauce that you've used for coating chicken. Serves 2 to 4

I'd go with Macrocarpa. It likes alkaline soil, is recommended for your area, and as a White Oak Group oak is resistant to Oak Wilt. Probably the slowest growing and worst fall color, though. Be sure to mention alkaline soil in your posts...that is the big fly in the ointment. Actually, you should test the PH of your soil. Northern Red Oak grows fastest, may have decent Fall color, and takes best to being transplanted, but might have trouble with chlorosis. If I could find it I'd go with seed grown. Grafting just creates more opportunities for the nursery to botch things. They could pick an unsuitable tree for the root stock, often the rootstock is root bound, there is confusion as to whether to bury the graft. I'd only buy grafted if it was a special cultivar or something. Personally, I kind of like potted trees. They give me more planting time flexibility. I can buy them when I see a sale and plant them when I have a weekend free. I buy small trees, though. And many disagree with me. It's partly a matter of how much you trust the nursery...potted trees create more opportunities for the nursery to botch things. They can become pot bound. Lots of Q Rubra near me are only just starting to leaf out, with tiny leaves the size of dimes. A few haven't leafed out at all. We had an unusually cool Spring, though.