Concur: Just about anything that will germinate in hot soil. I plant mostly southern peas and lima beans in July. Common bush beans in early August. Squash will also work as will cucumbers but pickle worms can give you major trouble. I start broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower in mid-late July in a cool shaded bed. Transplant in September. Nevr been able to grow Brussel Sprouts in mid Georgia. Turnips, mustard, komatsuna,kale, rutabagas I start direct seeding labor day and make successive plantings until mid October. Start onions in September, transplant in December. If you like melons in the fall, both cantaloupes and watermelons will make if you can control disease.

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.

The first one that comes to mind when you say "burgundy brownish" bloom is Calycanthus floridus. There are a lot of common names for this plant: Sweetshrub, Carolina allspice, sweet bubby bush, to name a few. Here is a link that might be useful: Sweetshrub

Atlanta has: Six Flags over Georgia Whitewater - water park (with an amusement park for young kids next door) Aquarium - the aquarium is very nice Coke Museum Stone Mountain - water slides, cable cars, duckmobile, riverboat ride, shops, etc. Lots of shopping - Atlantic Station downtown has lots of restaurants and stores including Ikea, but not outlet stores like Pigeon Forge. I think there are some nice exhibits going on down there right now, too, but I don't know what they are. There's other shopping all around Atlanta, lots of outlet malls around the fringes of Atlanta if you know where they are. Atlanta Braves baseball Fernbank Museum of Natural History (kids like the dinosaur skeletons) Atlanta has an art museum and other art venues and a history museum, but you may not want to do those things with young children in tow. Olympic Park has a big fountain the kids like to play in. If you feel like driving to north metro Atlanta, the Mall of Georgia is nice. There are often concerts outdoors beside the mall, lots of shopping and restaurants. In Duluth there is a train museum that is probably nice if you have a young train enthusiast. It's been years since we went, but my son loved it when he was little and crazy about trains. Other attractions that I've heard are nice but aren't as kid friendly are touring the historic Fox Theater (or taking in a show there, and sometimes in the summer they have movies there that are very affordable) and touring the TBS studio or CNN studio. I don't know where you'd rent a cabin with a pool in the Atlanta area. Instead of Pigeon Forge you might try Gatlinburg. It's in the mountains and within driving distance of Dollywood. Gatlinburg might be a little closer to Atlanta than Pigeon Forge, it might cut an hour off your drive (I don't know). If you just want to rent a cabin and relax, you might try Calloway Gardens. It is nothing like Pigeon Forge, but there are cabins, bike trails and bike rentals, beautiful gardens, a lake with a beach, it's very close to Franklin D. Roosevelt State Park (as in you could easily bike to it). I think there's an animal safari type attraction over there, too. But it is nowhere near as built up as Pigeon Forge and there's no amusement park. There's not a lot of shopping and few good restaurants. Good luck with whatever you choose.