As those are all natives, or prevalent invasives, I'd suggest following this link to the NCSU Plant Fact sheet and look through the native trees/ shrubs. I'll be fun and you have a while to look. At least they aren't wildflowers, wow, that would be a challenge. Good luck. ---Keith Here is a link that might be useful: Great site!

meghane - I don't think that's a fair assessment of NC builders at all. I think wanting to stick with what they know is very, very typical of builders in general - it's not specific to NC. It's annoying, but not regional. Although radiant heat is not the norm, we have two homes in NC (one built in the 50's, one new) with radiant in-floor heat in some areas. It's neither a new technology nor something that's difficult to get done in NC. The only homes on slab I see are in price ranges where radiant heat would be unusual, regardless of location. One of the biggest surprises I experienced when we moved to NC from an expensive NYC suburb was how much better-maintained the older homes were and how much more attractive the new homes were. Standards are CLEARLY much higher, at least in the under $2 mio. range. I have no idea if building technology is more advanced in places like CA or FL, but I really don't think the northeast or middle Atlantic has anything on NC. I'm not that familiar with the Durham area, but perhaps you are surrounded by cheap, dorm-style housing. What you are describing does not hold true in Asheville, Boone, Blowing Rock, Charlotte, or the coastal areas.

What Jane said, but IMO you may want to replace the string with a twist-tie or something that will not 'cut' into the plant as it grows. It will be very helpful to get it supported so there is minimal movement for the next several months while roots develop and 'dig-in' to the media. Root-wise, there is not much to work from there, so don't be too disappointed if it doesn't survive, happens to all of us :( . Good luck, Bob

It’s amazing how sharing thoughts with people who care about the subject matter can make a difference. All of a sudden I knew what I wanted to do. I got my sharp shovel and dug up a chunk of the crown, a cube about 6 inches on each side. I hosed the dirt off and pulled a bazillion little roots from the ivy out of the crown. Then I took it inside and worked on it with a tweezer to get every little piece of alien root off of it. After about an hour I was left with this. I soaked it in a mild bleach solution while I took an extensive shower because I’m sure some of those roots were poison ivy to which I’m very sensitive. I rinsed the crowns well and put them in some potting soil. Good luck Winter Snow, you have a nice barrel home awaiting if you survive. And by the way at one point when I was hosing off dirt I think I saw two little sclerotia (the fruiting bodies of Southern Blight) in between two roots close to the crown. So I don’t think a Hosta can be “infected” with Southern Blight. It might just be living in a contaminated bed.