charles,

i'm sad to have left the PNW. try Cistus design on Sauvie island for "zonal denial." portland nursery is good, too, and has two branches. i like the one on division because they have more indoor plants and succulents. there's a branch on stark street that's mainly for outdoor landscaping. cistus is pretty spendy, but it's fun to go out to sauvie's island. there should be some excellent corn mazes and pumpkin/fall crop harvests this time of year.
any of the 7 D's in portland are fun. i guess the story is there are 7 nurseries operated by the same family, all of which have names starting with "D." so, for instance, there is Dennis' 7 Dee's etc.
if you want to venture about 20 minutes outside of portland and you like orchids, try clackamas orchids just between woodburn and canby. if you like begonias (i know you lost some on the way out), try Cloudy Valley Nursery outside of Willamina.
i think all of those places have a web page. i posted on the Northwestern Gardening forum under "Great Nurseries" for some further south in the valley. Julie, in PDX, is a great local trader. i'm sure you'll meet her on the forum. Welcome!

-ming

We just had a nice swap in St. Helens on Oct. 1 at dahlia_guy's place, and I think he's considering having one next spring. Oldherb usually has a spring and a fall trade but she's been a bit under the weather this past year. I think there are a few community trades, too, that are not GardenWeb trades. Welcome to the area and I hope to meet you at one of the spring trades.

Hi Charles - and welcome!

I have lots of groundcovers, herbs, cuttings, and some other plants/starts for you, whenever you want to come by in NE Portland.. I can share African Violet leaf cuttings and divisions too, for indoors.

If you like Carniverous Plants - there is an Oregon Company that specializes in these cool plants - which live outdoors year-round in our Zone 8. (I have a stunner in my birdbath right now...with 10 hungry heads waiting for lunch. I hope they don't eat the mason bees that come to this water source!)

The Saracena link is here, and below: http://www.cobraplant.com

I met one of the owners - and you can see some of the plants, and meet Jeff at Portland Saturday/Sunday Market:
 December 3, 4, 10, 11, 17-24 (11 AM - 4 PM)
 Downtown Portland, near the Burnside Bridge.
If you are interested in Salvia, you'll want to ask Salviaguy (on GW) for an invitation to his place. There are specialty Bamboo collectors in Portland, and peope who grow Tropical plants - and you'll find some of them right here in the Member Exchanges.

To get local events and Plant Swap info mailed to you (when I find notices) just add an email address to my simple-living newslist at Yahoo Groups - it's called: CheapogazetteNW

Enjoy the colors and smells of Indian Summer!

Here is a link that might be useful: Sarracenia Northwest, Carniverous Plants

Welcome Charles,
I'm not from Portland but recently stopped at The Bovees Nursery on the way to the Springfield/Eugene area. Bovees has many rare shade loving plants and one I was especially interested in growing. A Shortia, which is hard to find.
www.bovees.com/ telephone 503 244-9341
I think you may enjoy a visit to there home/nursery/garden.

Elaine