Make sure they're Eastern filbert disease immune OSU selections. The best prices I've seen are from a place from Kentucky. I don't recall at the moment.

debelli, by means of explanation..tourist cities like Charleston area and Charlotte the land value is just too high to be affordable for the better garden centers we prefer. It takes a fair distance away in less pricey suburbs to find these garden center gems run by people who know plants and area soils and growing conditions. They are much fewer and farther between than they used to be and if they don't have a good website with directions, they're doomed. One year they're there and you've made an exciting discovery. Next year, they're gone.

You should go to Hampton Park.Also walk around downtown and look into yards and talk to whoever is working in them. Sometimes they invite you in.You can e-mail me directly and I will give you my phone # and you can come and see our garden. Not to much now a little early in the season. If staying a little might be able to talk to some people about seeing some more

The Holiday Inn -- Historic District is a newly renovated property that is centrally located and reasonable. Middleton Place is the best public garden-- much better maintained than Magnolia Gardens and excellent garden tour guides. The house museum is not so great, but the food at their restaurant is excellent. Pick up a copy of Margaret Moore's Complete Charleston: A guide to the architecture, history and gardens of Charleston and the Low Country. It has great insight and walking tours plus some good advice on excellent restaurants. Charleston has some of the best eating in the nation, so pick wisely and avoid the tourist traps. Pick a day of viewing gardens when you can be South of Broad Street in the historic Old City or in Ansonborough.