There are lots of differences besides vegetation: As a person born and bred in Baltimore ( 40 years in NH and MA) I never ever miss the humidity of a DC/Balto summer. It is insufferable. However, east coast MA & NH have equally hot spells and humidity, just not week after week after week.. As you know, Md and DC are 4 season climates....there is certainly spring (long) summer (hellish) fall (just fine) and winter ( just not so snowy so often so long) You would not miss the drivers who have never learned to drive in snow. On the other hand, you'll have to learn. You will lose two months of real warm weather gardening and the long lovely springs which encourage azaleas. New England springs are rather short and violent.....here today, gone tomorrow. But beautiful, for sure. Oh yes, it can snow on May 1. You will miss reliably delicious tomatoes you can grow yourself, the operative word is reliably and soft shell crabs ....real crabcakes. (though you have to search as far and wide down there as you do here for the authentic lump crab) You can get Bud here. Maples we have, but the oaks down your way are fine. I miss the southern graciousness and friendliness that linger in more southern areas. Many parts of New England are more racially segregated than the greater metro area. I continued to be startled by that whenever I went home or visited DC. Maybe I wax nostalgic and inaccurate, maybe times have changed.....but around here one rarely "stops" by for a beer or a drink after work, people don't "drop in" or "drop by" . At least where I live, nobody hangs out on their front steps or front yard, though you'll certainly get a wave from the neighbors. Sure, we chat when we get to know each other, but I honestly think people are more reserved here. Maybe in part because we're holed up so long in winter. I feel very homesick right now.

Hair, the winters here are bad enough. New England is much worse. But you gotta do what you gotta do. I did see a large, beautiful baldcypress at Niagara Falls (Ontario), and the nearby northern red oaks & sugar maples were impressive. Regarding hemlocks & woolly adelgids, the little suckers swept thru here a decade ago, but seem to have disappeared mostly. I was hiking at the drainage of nearby Rocky Gap Park lake where there are some stands of mature hemlocks (100' plus). Some dead skeletons showed, but the majority of them seemed mostly recovered. Nothing like the complete devastation in Md's Catocton park.

hey, thanks for the tips! I haven't posted much but have been reading the forum off and on for a long time. I've been gardening my patch of ROCKY (thus the rock farmer comment lol) southern Maine coast for 20+ years and have probably one of everything that's very common in my mixed borders of perennials/shrubs/conifers. I garden with a pickax, if that tells you anything. But I really wanted to up the ante on my small evergreen patches and get some nice minis or dwarves that are not quite as common. good point on the arboretums, and I love those. it seems like unless I go to a Japanese garden specifically, the specimens are all so big! I wanted to focus on smaller plants. Still love looking at those beautiful big majestic giants, though! right now, specifically, I wanted to see (then hopefully buy) something small (~2-3 ft), yellow, and upright - either pyramid, globe, or columnar for a spot between a bobo hydrangea (small, white blooming) and my blue forest juniper. bright part shade. yes, zone 5 covers so much doesn't it! I have long cold winters, but being close to the ocean, I have a bit of that coastal microclimate - warmer in winter, cooler in summer. plenty of rain, generally, but also great drainage (thanks to the ROCKS again). thanks again for the local source (and arboretum) tips!

I'm in southern CT so we didn't get too much yesterday but Friday was a complete wash-out. BUT, since Mystic was down 7.75" since last December...it's hard to complain. Also, as what seems to be the pattern recently...Mystic didn't get as much as other parts of CT. We received 1.97" on Friday and with Saturday's probably are now right at 2". Forecast calls for another 1"+ today. My daphne is in full bloom...obviously, no fragrance in this type of weather which is sad. The wind here did more damage than the heavy rain. We've got tree branches down everywhere you look...a lot of clean-up when the weather clears. Doesn't seem to be anything big just tons of small, already dead branches that needed pruning out anyway! Mother Nature does a good job of pruning our trees when we fail to do so...:) The turf-grass looks splendid. DH mowed yesterday during a dry spell and complained he needed a bailing machine. It was too long to leave on the grass so I got lots of fresh green stuff for my compost pile. Yeah!!! I planted 97 Bluestone babies on Thursday mulching them well with composted leave mould. Hopefully, the mulch kept them from being destroyed by the heavy rain & splashing mud. :( At least I won't have to water them for a while.