anyone?

Haven't tried it myself, but I've seen several examples of agaves, yuccas, and even prickly pears growing around the Atlanta area. I'm from San Diego, so it always makes me happy to see them. I'd expect that you'd need to do some darn good soil amending to provide them enough drainage here, since we get about 5 times more rain than Southen California. But I'm a novice to the whole gardening scene, so perhaps someone more experienced has better information for you...?

bump

You'll have a lot more luck getting answers if you post this on the Georgia Gardeners forum. I don't grow cacti, so don't know the answer. Here are some things to consider: the soil here is heavy, heavy clay - that doesn't sound good for a cactus; north Georgia is zone 7 so temperatures can easily drop to 10 degrees F - doesn't sound too good for a cactus; in a normal year we get slightly more rain than Seattle; 70% humidity is not unusual. And now that I think about it, I have never seen a nursery selling cactus. The other consideration is that a cactus looks out of place with gardenia and mountain laurel and dogwood and pine trees by the millions. Check the UGA web site and see what they have. I couldn't find much there about cacti.

Forgot to tell you, dirtaddshp, that what you call northern Georgia we call North Georgia (or sometimes the North Georgia mountains - not that we have mountains anywhere besides North Georgia). It's pronounced Nuwth JELW-ja. You'll need to know that when you get here.:)

They will be fine just make an above ground bed

Like Kurt says, raised bed (and I would amend your native Georgia, clay soil with some coarse builder's sand). Opuntia humifera is native from coastal Florida to Cape Cod, Ma. and there are other Opuntia that would work (Opuntia Santa Rita is an attractive one), then there are a bunch of non-cacti, xerophytes that would work including a few agaves, many yuccas.