When is it too late to plant?

So im finally moving from a crappy apartment to a house with a backyard and of course the first thing I think about is starting a hop garden. So I guess a little background is needed. I currently live in Charleston, Sc and we've been having fairly warm days with high humidity (somtimes even 100%). Ill be moving toward the end of this month and have thought that if I can locate some cascade rhizomes then maybe I should just go ahead and buy them, then plant them immidiatly. I know its not the most ideal time to be planting but Charleston has very mild winters and it generally gets cold for maybe two weeks out of the year and thats normally about mid january to mid feb. I think last winter it went below 32 maybe twice. But what do you guys think? Should I go ahead and feed the impatience/excitment urge or do I play it safe and go for spring 2010?

The main vegetative growth period is done here in MI, and from other reports on this forum the hops are beginning to flower in SC. At this point I would recommend waiting, but I don't think you'd be crazy to give it a try. Worst case would be nothing comes up next spring and you have to dig up and re-plant. At least you'd already have the beds ready.

I agree with cuinrearview, on both accounts, assuming you could get a rhizome this time of the year, if it didn't grow you are only out of what, say 4.00 apiece, on the other hand if you could find someone close by willing to dig you a few live shoots, they might fare better, good luck whatever you decide.

I got the last of the Nuggets from Freshops a couple of weeks ago and planted them, and they all came up and are getting started well. I got a few Mt Hood from here:
Fresh Hop Rhizome Plants for Growing Hops at Home
that arrived last week, and got them in the ground at the end of the week. So far no growth from them. It is way too late for them to produce anything this year. I thought they would at least have a chance to develop their root systems to give a head start on production next year. A guy was selling Cascade rhizomes on e-bay last week, but I didn't see them anywhere else. I didn't pursue the e-bay deal, as I feel I've done enough for now.