I enjoyed today too, and it looks like tomorrow is going to be similar. I'm a PNW newbie, can someone tell me if this weather is typical for early November? I keep expecting the rain/constant drizzle to begin. I haven't even had a frost here yet.

yeap, its a fairly typical november. talking portland here: i think 2006 had an october frost, but in the last few years first frost is in november.

people complain about the winter, but the grey doesn't really hit hard till mid november, then starts to clear sometime in feb. as long as you make a point to get outside in the daytime all winter long, its really a pretty mild winter experience.

It was very windy in East Portland so no gardening for me even though it was sunny. It was a nasty cold wind. Warmer today but still windy. I live too close to the Gorge....

Other years frosts may come earlier. November is the stormiest month of the year here, raining on a parade that has been going on for months. But hybrid bush roses may still be in flower at Christmas in mild urban neighborhoods. By February spring will already be starting. The short season here may really be summer, with recurring showers often persisting into early July.

Unfortunately, I came down with a cold and didn't feel up to doing anything yesterday. I expect to get out today. I'll mow up leaves, plant some more bulbs (that's four hundred and counting), maybe set up my mini green house for the winter. At this time of year, I check the ten day forecast and arrange my schedule as much as possible to be free on the days the weather is conducive to gardening. The rain breaks are few and far between.
I still have annuals and perrenials in bloom, and the cyclamen as well. I love being able to have flowers, however small, all year.

regarding summer:

you hear lots of natives and california transplants claiming that the weather doesn't really become summery till mid july. lots of sunny 70's/80's days in may and june don't count because basically, its not considered summer till there is a near 0 chance of rain.

growing up in new jersey (summer wet/winter dry climate) it just seems silly to me. a full week of rainy days in the summer would not be strange on the east coast.

The annual precipitation curves for here and Florida are almost exactly opposite, ours bottoming out in July and theirs peaking then. A friend who had moved here from Illinois went back home one August to find that there had been an inch of rain per week in Chicago since May. The annual totals for the more populous local communities are often less than many parts of eastern North America. The "it rains all the time here" is based on the many dull, damp days that may drag on, one after the other during the winter. Brief, pelting showers followed immediately by blazing sunshine creates a different impression.

Those brief pelting showers (which usually happen at commute time, so you can play "try to get to the car without being struck by lightning") with the blazing sun after them result in air so hot and humid you have to practically swim through it. And the swarms of mosquitoes just LOVE to come out after the rain and take blood donations. That's just the afternoon convection storms in Florida. Then you get the low pressure systems that come in and stall. DAYS of rain without respite. The kind of rain where you're going to get soaked going to your car--no umbrella and you get soaked on the way there, carry an umbrella and you get soaked trying to close it. I'm talking drenched to the drawers in seconds kind of soaking rain.

I'm more than ready for the ground to dry out enough to work here in the spring, but winter has its own beauty, and the rain is usually light enough that you can still get out and do things. Count me as another who loves the PNW.

Here's a question for y'all:

do you have to be from somewhere else to love the PNW?

Most of what I'm hearing, is why people love the PNW because it's different from where they came from.

PNW Natives, let's hear from you!

although I must say that I never in my life heard so much complaining about the weather until I moved to the PNW, and most of that complaining comes from the natives.

Here's what I love about the PNW: you can live your daily life in regular contact with the natural world. You do not have to live in a concrete world where the only living things are people and the few critters that thrive on anthropogenic landscapes (rats, cockroaches, starlings, and pet dogs and cats).

I also love being able to breathe without having all the moisture in me sucked out with every breath I take.

I'm a native Northwesterner and love it here. I like our dry summers and damp winters. I like the fact that I can landscape almost everyday through the winter. Summertime is more limited in that regard, because more care has to be taken when moving and planting shrubs and trees. When I was landscaping for a living people would ask me what I did for money in the winter. I landscaped!
I managed to get a little done today between showers. I planted some upright Japanese Maples, some Swordferns, and spread some more woodchip mulch. (The owner of a tree service parks his truck here.) :-)

I worked outside Saturday too, mostly in between (by chance) downpours. Raked and fertilized the lawn, and walked the dog twice, for about a mile each time. Rainy November days are ideal for fertilizing with slow-acting organic fertilizers.

Cut a couple of roses, but the cool damp infects them with botrytis so they don't really open. But they'll be nice for a couple of days.

If it doesn't absolutely pour today, I may go hiking for chanterelles, now that deer season is over.

I was born elsewhere, but mostly grew up here. I've also lived in Korea, and in NYC, but I always come back to the PNW. I love gardening year round, even if I do have to squeeze it in between downpours (drizzle is not a problem). Even in a downpour, I can sit in the shed and pot up bulbs. Cold and snow, I can live without.

I am from Minnesota, so I love the winters here. They are so mild and I can garden all year round. I was out raking leaves and cleaning up the flower beds today. The cyclamen hederifolium and alpinums were blooming and the coums had buds on them. I have not had a frost yet so the monkshoods and rudbeckias are still blooming. Some of the spring bulbs and my ficarias are starting to come up. It is a continual cycle. There is always something blooming all year round. It is a wonderful place to garden. Karen

I love our summers, too. Heat and humidity I can live without. There aren't many places where you get mild winters AND mild summers.

Not only can you garden like a madman here, all you have to do is stop for a minute and look at the beauty around you to love this place. In this, the rainiest month, look out the window--gorgeous somber layers of clouds in varying shades of gray, from silver to charcoal, set off by deep green conifers and brilliant gold bigleaf maples. And here and there a splash of red or orange from japanese and red maples. Then the sun comes out for just a few minutes, the light turns honey-gold, and everything glows. The weeds are dying back so you can once again see the bones and shape of your garden, and appreciate the rhythm that underlies it all and has been covered up by the rampant growth of summer. And you sit in front of your fireplace sip something warm, and plot and scheme what you can plant next. What's not to love?

dottyinduncan, you must not have the vole problem I have. I'm currently researching native plants with edible or repellent roots to grow here, hopefully to find some that the voles won't eat or that will keep them away, and hopefully native multiple-use plants (edible, decorative, butterfly/bee food, medicinal, tea) that cover the ground densely to remedy my weed grass problems.

I grew up in Houston, so if you think it rains here you should see the streets covered in inches or feet of water, fantastic lightning storms, deep ditches with crawdads or alligator gar. Cold wet windy winters with cutting rain, very hot muggy summers where apparently tomatoes give out half-way, my parents weren't gardeners so I don't know.

Then I had a few months in Detroit, ugly in winter because of few evergreens, but a beautiful spring by relief.

Then 6 years in Denver, with a couple of years to garden rich riverbottom soil that yielded enormous winter squash, but the snows start before the trees have time to color for fall, make driving hazardous for months, lows of -16*F in January, and the snows finish by ruining spring after the bulbs have come up.

Then 20 years in San Diego. It's possible to grow peas and cool season plants there in winter, and I do miss the flowers and lovely weather in winter, but the summers could be marred by h*!!ish santa ana winds, and inland where I lived were too hot to work outside midday, the black widow spiders were prolific (I was bitten twice), and the rattlesnakes migrated over our ridge every spring. My neighbors had a large one stuck in their chickenwire fence. The ground was 2/3 rock (but no voles!). Only a few apples would grow there but I loved the oranges, tangerines, etc, which ripened in winter.

So, I love the PNW for being able to stick my hands into brush without wondering if my life is in peril, I love being able to work outside all summer without cooking in midday, and I even like taking a break from gardening in winter to pursue other hobbies, though this year I will be wintersowing some native plants. The trees and birds in my yard are the same as in the "mountains" near San Diego where we would go to "get away from it all". The air has that cedar fresh fragrance. Ahhhh.

I grew up in the Northwest, first in Seattle then in Olympia, and for a long time I liked our weather here just fine. Then when I found myself more seriously committed to a career that involved a lot of working outside, I became less excited about all those cold rainy days we get in winter. I wouldn't mind summer being a little warmer either, especially at night. Overall I think I'd prefer a climate that was a little warmer year and drier year round, but not too much. Drier I have, since I moved to Sequim 8^)

I am a native Oregonian but I grew up in Phoenix AZ and even after moving back here in 1985 I still hate the dark dreary rainy days of fall/winter and spring. Especially spring. The garden centers are full and the weeds are growing but it often rains on weekends.

I prefer more sunshine and hard rain that goes away after an hour or so.

If you don't work M-F or are more flexible or retired it would be a lot easier to take.

My other recreational activity is riding horses and the mud is really a bummer. I'm still trying to get the mud off my good boots from a show last weekend. There was no way to avoid it, could not ride the horse to the restrooms! I had to put my jeans through the wash twice too to get it all out. I'm hoping the newer rubber riding boots they have now are more flexible than the old ones I have. My rubber garden clogs just won't do!

"I check the ten day forecast and arrange my schedule as much as possible to be free on the days the weather is conducive to gardening"

hahaha i dont trust the CURRENT weather forecast most times, let alone 10 day extended ;)

but the weather here is decent...if you have SDD, it might be kind of brutal, but i do enjoy the dramatic fog that hangs about...we live right on the coastline of vancouver island and it looks amazing to see the snowy mountains of the mainland. no place is more amazing then this area thats for sure.

Born and raised here in the NW actually not far from where Botann was raised. Love all the seasons without the real extremes. Love that the mountains, the rainforest, high desert, the ocean and the inland waters are all less than a days drive away from most spots in WA state. Love the lack of really poisonous insects and snakes (I just got back from Australia) and that we have so many great gardens and gardeners who love to share them!

I'm with you, Mary!! Lived in this area my entire life and I have never had any desire to relocate. Travelling across the US, I've encountered various locations I wouldn't mind staying with for awhile but there's always something that detracts.........too much snow in winter (I HATE snow!), too cold in winter, too hot/humid in summer, too limiting AFA gardening is concerned, too liable for storms/hurricanes/tornados. Even as much as I love SoCal and visit often, it is too uniform in its climate :-)

This is also the most scenic area I can imagine! Not too many places that combine both mountains, forests and beaches in such close proximity. And enough of the big city vibe to keep everyone happy. Since moving to the Kitsap area, I have renewed my love affair with this area. It is such a change from my former Shoreline location - so incredibly pastoral and woodsy, the beach is just down the street, I can see both the Cascades and the Olympics. What's not to love??

The seemingly endless gray, gloomy days of winter bothered me much more when I was in the corporate world. Now that my life revolves around plants and gardening and I am outdoors year round, it seems much less of an onerous situation. For me, it is just a rather short break and down time before the gardening season resumes and my schedule goes nuts again. And a chance to get some work done in my own garden. If I couldn't garden in winter, I'd have no garden at all!

I really dont get why people live anywhere else beside the west coast. Anywhere along it..awesomeness.

Born and raised here and I love the place. However if I could live anywhere else in the PNW it would be Brookings, Oregon the Banana Belt. The PNW is an awesome region for growing so many interesting species of plants. My next favourite place is Hawai'i and I could really relate to gardening there.

ha! i have always told my husband i would like to moveto brookings... for the same reasons

Sunset has strip from Gold Beach south mapped in same climate zone as San Francisco. Last time I looked temperature range for Brookings was 18F to 103F. Northernmost natural coast redwood groves are up the river from there.