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Location: The place where the road & the sky collide
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Originally Posted by samsdad
Thank you all for your much valued feedback.
One last question: Can you tell me how long the flowers are in bloom because it's dead here in NJ from Nov-April.
Thank you again!
It depends on what you plant. Right now, the only thing that I have in bloom is pansies, which is the same as if I was still in South Jersey.
I have a winter blooming camelia. Last year it bloomed all through December, quit when it got frigid in January, then bloomed the rest of the winter. So far, not a bud has opened this year, because it got frigid earlier. (People grow camelias in South Jersey, too.)
Ft Mill vs. Charlotte, uumh, perplexing? It really depends on what you want. Do you want to be 20 miles out of downtown? Do you want to drive into the city to have a nice dinnner? Do you want to drive into the city for work? Ft Mill is a small town. It has the day to day things that you need such as grocery stores, pharmacies, and a few small restaurants. But it is not large enough to have a diversity of shops and stores. To get that diversity, you will be forced to drive to other areas. You can live in Ft Mill where it is cheaper with fewer options or Charlotte where it is more expensive but more options.
Ft Mill vs. Charlotte, uumh, perplexing? It really depends on what you want. Do you want to be 20 miles out of downtown? Do you want to drive into the city to have a nice dinnner? Do you want to drive into the city for work? Ft Mill is a small town. It has the day to day things that you need such as grocery stores, pharmacies, and a few small restaurants. But it is not large enough to have a diversity of shops and stores. To get that diversity, you will be forced to drive to other areas. You can live in Ft Mill where it is cheaper with fewer options or Charlotte where it is more expensive but more options.
I live in Fort Mill and I have a Best Buy, SuperTarget (one of the few in the Charlotte region), Marshalls, Home Depot, Super Walmart, Lowes within 5 minute drive of my home. In addition, I can get to the Pineville mall (all your major stores) in less than 15 minutes (with the new road expansion it might even get faster). As for food, there are plenty of options in town (yes lots of local restaurants but they are fairly good i.e. Captain Steves, Longitude 81, etc). If you go 10 minutes out, you hit all the "chain" sitdowns in Rock Hill or around Pineville Mall. In addition to all this, Fort Mill is still growing and expanding.
Coming from Miami (where it took 1 hr to go 15 miles during some times in day), the drive to downtown is a joke. During rush, 30 minutes. Non rush, we can make a show downtown in 20 minutes.
I live in Fort Mill and I have a Best Buy, SuperTarget (one of the few in the Charlotte region), Marshalls, Home Depot, Super Walmart, Lowes within 5 minute drive of my home. In addition, I can get to the Pineville mall (all your major stores) in less than 15 minutes (with the new road expansion it might even get faster). As for food, there are plenty of options in town (yes lots of local restaurants but they are fairly good i.e. Captain Steves, Longitude 81, etc). If you go 10 minutes out, you hit all the "chain" sitdowns in Rock Hill or around Pineville Mall. In addition to all this, Fort Mill is still growing and expanding.
Coming from Miami (where it took 1 hr to go 15 miles during some times in day), the drive to downtown is a joke. During rush, 30 minutes. Non rush, we can make a show downtown in 20 minutes.
UM... EXCUSE ME? We have Fish Market and Passion 8 Bistro -- both outstanding restaurants. Cloud 9 Martini Bar... you'd think you were uptown. Imagine -- all that right here in little 'ole FM. Maybe you haven't been down here in a while. We've grown up... come visit us !!
For beautiful, stately neighborhoods, restaurants, and social activities: Charlotte.
For everything else including the lower cost of living and better schools: Fort Mill.
I would come down, DRIVE thru the places you are interested. Get a good FEEL for it. You can find a house that seems nice online but you drive by and check out the lot and the rest of the hood and it can be a deal breaker.
The Union County- Waxhaw side adjacent to Ballantyne in NC will give you a lot of house for the $ and larger lot you are seeking. Most neighborhoods in the metro have lots of kids esp in the burbs.
Cookie cutter--meaning you don't want to see the same house on your street? There aren't a lot of custom built homes under 500k from what I have seen these days so most traditional neighborhoods--especially once you move out from downtown--will be more cookie cutter unless you find an older established hood.
Dont forget than even though gas is a little cheaper.you will more than burn up your savings every time you scurry across the state line to find work. Charlotte has considered a pay roll tax to allow those working here to actually pay something to support the infrastructure that they use for free now. something to consider in my opinion.
My first crocus bloomed this weekend (end of Jan), and the daffodils are beginning to poke thru the ground.
Tulips--can be a real pain in the neck to grow here....they don't like the soil, sometimes you can get lucky and have them come back every year, but most just are treated as annual bulbs. If you do decide to plant them, pamper them. There's lots of other choices.
Neighborhood landscapers are just starting to put in pansies and will continue doing that for a few months. The pansies can take the cold. By April 1st my yard is FULL of spring bulb blooms....so they start probably in mid-March.
In the fall- I just checked the dates of some photos I posted to facebook. On Oct 18 I had moonflower vine still going strong, cosmos in full bloom, zinnias, foxglove, coreopsis, salvia, lavender, petunia.
be prepared to really work 'real' dirt into your beds. The clay can really only be dug in the spring (soft mud), because its as hard as concrete any other time. Mostly, when I'm planting, I dig a large hole, add potting soil, etc, and either discard the dirt I removed or use it as fill dirt in other places. If you are serious about gardening...its worth it to buy a truckload of dirt (which I did this past year) or get used to buying a bag of dirt each time you are at Home depot.
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