Get serious..When you post "Moving to NC,but where???" are we to presume you are retired,independently wealthy,empty-nesters with pristine credit(mtgs are stricter now) and are Baptists who have a wild taste for any kinds of foods. Most people have to find a job. Have kids and care about their schooling. They want to make the transition in moving as smooth as possible. Site yourself here in a little burg and prepare yourself to find none of the foods and brands you are accustomed to. The bigger cities have had nearly 30 years of people transferring in so that their stores stock other than Southern brands. Of course, anyone coming from NYC/Long Island will be accustomed to higher taxes than what NC/SC charge. Comparatively, the highest tax areas in NC are still way below what people pay in the North. Up north, those higher taxes are paying for older infrastructure,denser population/more crime, schools that pay a higher wage to teachers etc. If you situate yourself in an area close to where there are the most jobs for your skill sets then you will be happier. Even the biggest cities have outer ring towns and counties that are more affordable. Beach/mountain should be your last consideration if you need to find a job here and get your kids into a halfway decent school (don't get me started on that). If you really like gardening and like the ease of planting in the sandy loam of Long Island you're going to face a chore of amending most soils you get here unless you've bought the house of a gardener. It's a lot more complex a process when you seek to move to an entirely different region of the country. Granted, this is a great region. I'd sooner go from there to here than here to there but where you locate depends on a lot more than its proximity to the beach/mountains.

Just wondering... this forum doesn't list numbers of hits on a thread so I don't know if people care abut this kind of piece... I know it is long - it is meant to be more creativie writing and expanding thinking rather than just a picture of my favorite hostas... I am posting these "Top Shelf" meandering stories on another forum as well... I'll post them here if people are interested... otherwise, I'll drop it here...

Gee I wish Hostanista were here to tell you about this. She makes the birds and bees interesting again. I'd say that a sport is a rogue eye growing on the same crown as the rest of the plant. but with a different leaf color/design/size/character/whatever. It is surgically (cut out with a knife) removed and becomes a different and new plant, with only ONE parent. It is an interesting thing when hosta mutate like that. They gave the name of "sport" to the process and to the new plant. And Michelle, you have some new prized possessions there. They are small for sure, but you got them in time for the root systems to grow sturdy before first frost. They look great to me. If the eyes are healthy, then you have a GOOD bargain with the mystery box. As persistent as you've been with hosta even after losing some and such an extreme zone .....you are a hooked hosta fan! Thing is, they are worth it, don't you agree? You have the extreme cold zone, mine is the extreme hot/humid zone. So we are the far ends of the hosta universe. Pioneering takes determined people, and I think you are not giving up. What you learn will be helpful to others who might not be as observant or as persistent. So don't hesitate to ask questions and to share your experience with what works and what doesn't work. This post was edited by moccasinlanding on Fri, Jul 11, 14 at 23:13

I guess starting this off with Cheech and Chong, I should have been prepared for that last one! I just want to go on record as saying that I respect all traditions and beliefs that promote peace and brotherhood. In my garden and home you will find Christian, Buddhist, Hindu, Jewish, Taoist, Hopi, Lakota... all sorts of spiritual symbols - all directed toward increasing comity. And the only weed I've been involved with for many years is the kind I need to remove from my hostas!