I'm not in your area and most of my advice won't do you a lot of good this season, but ... set aside a place to make your own compost and you don't need to buy! I get a cheap, unwanted spring hay or straw and it makes a rich compost. I add leaves, horse manure from my pasture, wood ashes and charcoal, and many other things. I double dig my beds and mix it well in, checking PH. If I must buy, I purchase cheap top soil and composted manures to mix my own. I may also add in some good potting soil so it's a three way blend but you are right, that stuff is way expensive if you need a lot of it like I do so I don't buy much of it. I also add in some of my native red clay for minerals but break it up and mix well. For mulch, I get /dump truck/ loads delivered for free from the electric company. Now mind you it's chipper shredded mixed woods, not pine bark, etc but it works great for me. I sort out larger pieces if I am using it containers around my plants and the larger bits go into the big garden or the compost pile. Some tree trimmers will also give it away for free if you call around. As noted already, there are free compost areas so check around. Probably your local Master Gardeners and any Victory Garden goers in your area will also have sources to share.

Here is the Georgia county by county distribution for Yucca filamentosa. I assume this is a map of indigenous locations, but that is not confirmed. Do you think any of these areas would have similar sandy soil texture to yours? Other than that, I cannot comment on what it would take (if anything) to grow this in your soil. Here is a link that might be useful: Yucca filamentosa

I am near the Greenville/SPartanbug airport. About 4 hours from Atlanta? I know I am 90 minutes south of Asheville in NC. Trish

Well a quick google search can give you a LONG list of things to do in South Georgia, other than that if you're going to fly see if the big travel sites have any good deals - bookit dot com is pretty new and has a lot of package deals. The link below is for Mexico but should give you an idea of the package deals it has. Here is a link that might be useful: mexico travel deals