Welcome to the neighborhood! I saw the first firefly of the year last night, which I thought was a bit early, but I've never kept track of those before. Usually see loads of them in June and July.

It does get chilly here in the winter--temps in the 20s at night isn't unusual, so you'll have to protect or bring in those tropicals. The good thing is that winter is short here. I grew up waaaay up north, so I know about winter, but you get spoiled by the weather here, making those 20-degree days feel cold!

Hi Meag, and welcome to North Carolina! It's a great state, full of friendly people who enjoy nature and gardening. And since the weather is great most of the year, why not?

I live in extreme eastern Guilford, and so don't get over to Greensboro proper as much as I'd like. I do visit Greensboro Shrub on US70; they are mostly wholesale but have some retail stuff and a good selection of B&B in the spring that is reasonably priced. You haul, though; so it can be an issue. I've been to New Garden--a little too trendy for me, although there was some nice stuff there. Prices seemed "OK"...not the best, not the worst. I also have picked up a few things at the Farmer's Market. There are some great deals there! I've heard Raleigh's has us beat, but haven't visited them yet so I have no comparison to give.

The only "too cold" it gets here is what you think you should be able to grow based upon the summer heat! =) Your bananas will love it, but only in a container, probably. But I guess we're technically Zone 8 now here (according to the 2006 map), so who knows what you can get away with? I play it safe and pick Zone 7 stuff. There's so much to grow here, it's really wonderful. Fireflies pop up soon--I have already seen the juveniles relaxing on my ceonothus, and that means their butts will start glowing soon! =)

Welcome and good luck with your garden!

Welcome Meag..the Carolina bunch is very active on GW as evidenced by our having all three options to communicate with our friends here.
Since you arrived during our drought know that while we seem to be getting regular rainfall, dig down 1-2' and that soil still hasn't really regained its normal level of moisture.
We still need to water here in the Charlotte area and are allowed to once a week or more often if using drip/soaker irrigation methods. The big trees in full leaf are hogging much of the rain that falls.
Begin learning plants native to the Carolinas and make these your backbone of the garden so watering (or lack of) isn't so much an issue.

HI Meag, Welcome to our area of NC. I'm about 15 or 20 mins south of Nelsons. He does have an interesting place and has gone the extra mile(s) when I needed something special and he had a planned florida trip. He services a lot of landscapers and his other big business is our spring and fall Furniture Market. So he keeps a really good selection. I've noticed that he has a bunch of citrus in (I think they were $12) but you have to really scour the place or know to ask to find some things, as things get moved around a lot.

You can grow bananas here if you grow the right ones. I've had no problems with basjoo or the chinese banana (lariscopa-sp?) being left in ground. Some of the others I've done well with digging and storing under the house (crawlspace). We can also grow the hedychium gingers (butterfly, bottlebrush, etc) and Curcurma, but have trouble in this area with Costus. Zingiber and Alpinia can be grown but must be wintered indoors or allowed to go dormant and store cool. Another tropical I really love are the elephant ears. We can grow one or two of the alocasia but colocasia do much better at surviving winter if sited right and soil is ammended well for drainage. It's not the winter cold that gets them it's the WET / COLD combo. I've done well with fontanessi (black stem), chicago harlequin, portadora, and illuntris can make it but it comes up really late and so has trouble getting any size before winter comes again. That's an issue for some of the gingers I mentioned before too.

You may be a half zone warmer than I am depending on where you live in G'bro. I'm 7a but parts of SE G'bro are 7b. Between that and siting you can really push zones around here. I've grown stevia for several years in my herb bed and it comes back reliably every year for me. Hardy tapioca comes back for me too.

If you really love nurseries you have to check out BB's in Sanford. We're not allowed to mention their actual name but it rhymes with fig floomers. Just replace the F's with B's. You can google it for directions. It's probably about 1-1/2 hours from G'bro. There's also a place in Julian called Plant Logic that sells mostly hostas. She had a special sale this past week, so I don't know if she's still open to the public right now but you can call and ask her if you're into hostas. She also had lilies, peonies and sedums (off the top of my head). Her number is posted over on the'comverstions' forum. She's just off Hwy 421 on Hwy 62. We also have a very big salvia grower (I think in G'bro) and an orchid grower not to far from G'bro, but I can't think of their names or locations just now. You should be able to google them to locate. There are several good nurseries in the Winston area which you can find with search on this forum. We also have Niches in Chapel Hill which is great if you're into natives. If you find some good nurseries in G'bro let the rest of us know. I have a hard time locating their mom and pop or smaller nurseries. If you're into natives you may want to check into joining the NC Native Plant Society.

Sorry you missed our local plant swap this spring. We do have a fall swap and also a winter seed swap. Just keep an eye on the exchange forum for those or contact me in the fall. It's generally abt the 1st or 2nd Saturday in Oct. We have a great group of people that love to share!! I'm still trying to get all the plants in the ground from our last swap.

Welcome to Greensboro. You'll find a lot of little wholesale nurseries around this area, especially between here and Raleigh. I've only been in the state two years, between here and Raleigh (where my bonus children live) is about all the traveling I've done. Most of the wholesale places will sell to walk-in retail trade.

I buy a lot of plants at the Farmer's Market here. I've never been disappointed. Most of the vendors will bring something for you if you ask. I wanted a male winterberry and the vendor had it for me at my next visit. At anyrate, you'll find me at the Farmer's Market almost any saturday morning. We can make a date if you like.

My big thing is roses. There are a couple of good sources for ownroot and unusual roses if you want that info.

The Raleigh Farmer's Market is worth the visit also.