Welcome- you will have a lot of fun checking out the local nurseries. For native plants- Try Meadow Beauty nursery. Carl & Donna are the best. Located on Ranches Rd. Near Hypoluxo & Jog. They are open to the public on Sat. only from 8-12. Their property is awesome and with the cooler weather coming you will be able to see LOTS of birds and wildlife. Also check out Abell's Nursery on Hypoluxo. Family owned. Very nice staff. Tropicals- Excelsa is awesome and if you are into bamboo, Tropical Bamboo is right around the bend from them. Beverly

Lago, yeah the Delaware Coast has a pretty favorable climate for windmills and such. They are not is wide spread because people just aren't aware of such thing as cold hardy palms and the availability is not as great as in VB. It's getting better. The early "palms pioneers" like the Royal Rose B&B shown above illustrate the great potential here. They have been my garden inspiration and I have windmills lining my Victorian wrap around porch. We are a high end zone 7b here according to the 2012 USDA map. Earlier revisions by AHS and Arbor Day placed the immediate coast as the northern most extreme of 8a. That latter point seems to really ruffle feathers for some reason. But those of us who live on the coast know that we're in a bit of a sweet spot. You hit a very interesting point about the geography of our coast (Delaware Bay to our north) mimicking VB coast (Chesapeake Bay to their north). They are a good half zone milder being 100 to 120 miles due south, but also closer to Gulf Stream which is deflected out to sea by the OBX of NC. We recognize we're not VB climate, but we're not far off either, which people find hard to believe. I agree with you that pot grown palmettos are a better long term survivor. They are hard to come by in most places in the areas. Never seen here. There are some very rare palmettos here. I did a thread in the fall (Sabal Palmettos in Delaware) you can look for. There is a hurricane cut palmetto near Bethany Beach that was planted by a friend if mine at his former garden center. It was growing slowly and had some setbacks. But he sold the center to a woman who is "palms clueless". She didn't protect it winter a year ago, but surprisingly it recovered nicely and was getting a decent green crown by November. Then she cooked it with lights wrapped in plastic this winter. We write it off. Shame. It would've been better off left alone. After this mild winter, it would've come through perfectly and had a great summer growth a head of it. Yesterday, my friend texted me that the palm is still alive! It has 8" of new green growth pushing out of the top. It just shows the resilience of the mighty sabal palmetto. Hurricane cut palmettos are a poor choice for marginal areas like here. But that one is an interesting experiment. A smaller, pot grown palmetto has been at a Fenwick Island (inches above the MD/DE line) for a few summers, is un protected other than seated infringe of a very short wall. It looks great and is example of why this type should be tried more often. Again, they are not available. I've read extensively about palmetto and most sites say they are an 8a tree, but hardy to 7b with good seating. I'm going to do a drive to Gary's nursery this week to pick up pot grown 7 gal. palmettos and a Birmingham. Besides the "Sabal Palmetto in Delaware" thread, I did "A palmy visit to Bethany Beach" a few weeks ago, you might find interesting. Bethany Beach seems to have an even sweeter microclimate because if the Inland Bays to their northwest, which may moderate cold winter winds.

Same deal here as far as the soil,I dumped a mound of sand over a large yew (12'x12')I cut down to make the cactus bed,you can see the stump in some of the pictures,anyway I added 1/2" pea gravel over the top,2"-3" thick and when I planted I dug a little deeper to mix some of the rich soil from down a little deeper,one thing I noticed over the winter is sand freezes pretty solid so I hope the gravel adds some insulation.I will build a cover Nov 1 to keep them dry over winter and heat if temp gets close to 0F or lower,a few of the agaves and yuccas might have a problem with that, esp in the first couple of years.I am off to take some pics if its not raining again!jez who would of thought you might need a cover in summer!

I live in Tennessee, but we have visited all the areas mentioned in this thread other than Sunset Beach (which I intend to look up!) - can you tell we like to travel? Lake Norman is a beautiful area. It depends on what you want to do and what you like in a vacation. My husband and I do not like touristy areas like Myrtle Beach, but that is just us. We like quieter, less populated areas. We also own a boat and are big on water activities. I do agree that Lake Norman is pricey. The Wilmington area is nice as is the Outer Banks, and quieter. That will depend on time of year you go also. We don't have children so we travel more in spring and fall and miss the crowds. I love Blowing Rock! We also enjoy Asheville, Black Mountain and Hendersonville, NC. If you go to that area, you can also do a day trip to the Smoky Mountains. Another beautiful area with more activities is Charleston, SC. That is one of our very favorite places to visit. We generally stay on one of the less populated islands in the area such as Kiawah, Harbor Island, Isle of Palms, etc. Happy traveling and let us know where you go and how you like it! tina (who needs to check out the vacation board)