I think you would find gardening very liberating and appealing in NC compared to Minnesota. We can grow many more varieties of plants here compared to northern states, and the weather makes it possible to garden year round. Spring can be very spectacular when dogwoods and azaleas are blooming, and weather is most pleasant in spring and fall. Summers can be oppressive when we have spells of hot weather, and it's not unusual to have extended stretches when high temperatures are above 90 degrees. That's generally not a problem for gardening unless accompanied by dry spells and droughts, which unfortunately seem to be becoming more prevalent. The weather in fall is also very nice, although the leaf show is probably not as spectacular here as in Minnesota due to lack of sugar maples. Winters are very mild and some plants (eg, pansies) will thrive and bloom from fall through spring. In the Wake Forest area and throughout Wake County, we unfortunately are having a population boom and loss of natural habitat for deer, which can be a serious problem depending on where you live. In my neighborhood in N. Raleigh, deer roam through the yards at night eating just about everything in sight. This has forced a drastic change in my gardening. I used to grow lots of vegetables, pansies in winter, daylilies and hostas - but the deer have changed all of that. I don't grow vegetables at all any more, and have to spray my hostas and daylilies with repellent to keep the deer from eating them to the ground.

G'Day! - Such kind words! Thank you! - Credit where credit is due; while the pictures are all of my gardens, my friend Frank took many of the shots. He's the fellow on the bench on sheet #2, row 5. After his weekly barrel racing and horse training lessons, Frank helps me around the farm with electrical work and computer stuff. And takes pictures. Putting these photos up on his server just earned him an extra loaf of home-baked bread! - Sorry these are such a jumble. They are actually the "B" class photos, those i was considering for my garden's website but had to cull. Now, don't y'all be holding your breath, but the BEST 45 pictures aren't up yet. When i get them titled and properly captioned, i'll let y'all know and refer you to my garden's very own website! i know, it's been a log time coming (we started on this project a year ago) but i keep getting distracted and doing more gardening than phtographing - or html practice. - The camera is a Fugi s-3000, so the pictures aren't commercial-grade. Anyone considering such a camera, be aware that it drains batteries FAST. And, every session, when you power it up, you have to re-set the date/day/time; it take about half an hour of prep work before you can actually go out and shoot. - These horses are my favorite from my string of barrel-racing quarter horses. They're retired, just like me. They just worked too hard when they were good to put down just because they are too old to race any more. When i see the vet bills, sometimes i think a flock of pink flamingos might be a wiser set of lawn orniments! But then, where would i get horse apples for the gardens? - i keep horses because when i retired i didn't think the National Zoo would have let me take any of the animals home with me! - Almost all the plants in those pictures are either inherited or from Garden Web trades. (OK, half of the Mixed Daffodills are actually cheapy end-of-season sale bulbs, planted just before the snow fell!) - Happy gardening, -vlad

Can't possibly thank everyone enough for the responses. In regards to location, we live near Tallahassee, putting us in zone 8b. Unlike south FL, we do have a bit of a fall season and see a few frosty mornings each year, but spring still kicks in blessedly early for us. As a bit of an update my dilemma is that while I don't like the "legginess" of knockout roses, nor do I love the more frilly/full look of many of the English roses that do well here, especially since our yard has numerous camellia trees with similarly full flowers. Knowing full well that the hybrids will cause us (honestly my husband) more work I'm still drawn to them knowing they'll take much more work and will make for turnover in plantings as time goes by. So with the above shared, we have made two picks thus far and have the garden now about half full. One was definitely more of an impulse buy (but with at least a bit of cell phone info review before buying!) while the other was a bit more deliberate. The impulse buy was three "Miracle on the Hudson" rose bushes from our local Costco. They simply looked stunning in the store, with with every customer walking by them stopping to admire them and verbally praise them. The rose itself has what I feel is a bit more richer red than with knockouts while still having a relatively simple flower, while the bushes are not as "leggy" as knockouts and have attractive dark foliage. Quick online reviews showed it listed as highly disease resistant. We'll see. With the "Miracle on the Hudson" a fairly bold / vibrant choice for the garden, we wanted the next rose to help transition to lighter shades / other color options, and with the interior of our home a yellowish shade of paint (Corinthian White), we acted on Irisgal_z9's advice to pick a flower that would look good on the dining room table and choose "Double Delight" as the rose to pair with the Miracle on the Hudson rose. We planted these roses in the half of the space closest to the picture window so will be looking for lighter color roses that are no taller to fill the other half now. We're thinking that with the Double Delight helping transition, we can now go with very soft shades of yellow, pink, or white in the front half of the rose garden area. Absolutely WELCOME any continued recommendations for what might pair well with the space we have left.

Ruby Falls Then Talluhal Falls - That sign does NOT lie!!! Over 1,000 steps Over 1,000 steps to get down into the Gorge then come back up, if you get there early enough to get 1 of the 100 a day "floor passes" you can continue the hike along the rocks in the above picture. (you still have to come back to this point and take the stairs back up to the rim) Helen GA We forgot our walking stick so bought Max a new one found one that had a whisle carved at the top of the stick, thought it would be good for safety, it was good for annoying his mother instead!