check out Blake Island's Tillicum Village...google search images, too... that's a wonderful place to spend an entire day. you go over by boat and have an authentic Pacific Northwest Indian dinner, with tribal entertainment. they cook the salmon on planks, upright, around a fire.. it's awesome! you can walk around the island, to see the natural plants and along the shoreline. I think that's a 'must,'for someone so far away from Puget Sound. there's lots and lots of Indian history around here. and as mentioned...Goodwill in Tacoma is a favorite place to find a lot of fun things. they have it all set in huge bins..you get to paw through it.. it's a large warehouse and is right downtown Tacoma, to be able to visit other great places, like Chihuly's glass house and there's a place that used to be a train station, converted into individual specialty shops..art, food...too much to see in a day.... (I was born in Tacoma)....gotta love the place! July will also be the highlight of the season for garage sales... Becky .(*_*).

The red berries are probably the "invasive" you've been told of... I can't think of the name off the top of my head, but my grandfather called them wineberries... Here in eastern PA, they ripen right around the fourth of July and they have a 'fuzzy' kinda thorn on the leaves and stems... Another red rasberry type thing may be a Salmonberry... Salmon in color and having more of a vine habit than any rasberry i know of that may grow wild... A bigger berry that picks more like a rasberry than a blackberry... Looking forward to the pics... The wineberries make fantastic jam... kinda tangy, but very sweet when most of the berries are fully ripe...

Oceanna, I also live in Western Washington. I live just outside of Duvall in the woods on the side of a mountain. I have blackberries!!! I feel your pain. I am also sorry to tell you this: The cross bow will work but to a limited degree and it is pretty pricy for the amount you have to kill. The goats will not eat the older woodier stuff, they prefer the younger stuff. They will also eat your garden if they get half a chance. The goats still leave the root systems which will regrow with vigor. Nothing you do with a chain link fence will stop the blackberries. A high cement block wall will hold them back, some. Everywhere a branch touches down it will root. And those babies get long. Second and insideously is the bird factor. They drop the seeds. ugh! The only thing you can do that will have any effect is to cut them back and then dig out the roots. This is a major pain in the butt but it will work. You need to cut down as wide a swath of them as you can and dig the base of the plants out. Only if you do this will you stand a chance of those beautiful roses on your fence line. Trust me it it worth the trouble of doing. I have had to do it in several areas not to mention that I still have 2 acres of the beast that need to be destroyed. I'm looking to get a track hoe in here to dig it all out.

Amongst the best palms for the PNW would be the Windmill Palm, Trachycarpus fortunei, which is the palm in the pool photo. Other species of this genus to look for would include the more refined leaf form of T. wagneriana or T. takil. A smaller growing fan palm that is also perfectly hardy is the Mediterranean Fan Palm, Chamaerops humilis. There is also a lovely silver leafed version, C. humilis var cerifera. You might also be interested to try growing one of the hardier feather palms, such as Butia capitata, the Pindo Palm. Other subtropical plants that are often used in PNW gardens for a tropical effect would include the various Phormium hybrids, Cordyline australis hybrids and cultivars, and Beschorneria yuccoides. The silvery foliage of Astelias, which much resemble Phormiums in habit, are also quite hardy for Seattle, and would include the larger growing Astelia chathamica 'Silver Spear', and others such as A. nervosa 'Red Gem' or similar. Fatsia japonica is always a reliable tropical looking foliage plant. Usually not quite hardy as year round perennials in all but the mildest PNW locations, but great as temperennials, the Abutilons of all colors are great filler plants. Bergenia was already mentioned, but this is a great foliage plant that also blooms in late winter, and is fully hardy, coming from Russia. Winter deciduous subtropicals such as the various Hedychiums are also great, such as H. gardnerianum, H. flavescens, H. greenei. Cautleya spicata is also quite nice, and is quite colorful with summer blooms of red and yellow, and will even bloom in a fair amount of shade. My favorite Canna varieties for tropical flair would have to include the very tall growing C. ehemannii, which can get 10 feet tall, and has smaller rose red pendant flowers that cleanly drop off when done blooming. If you want dramatic foliage that is the equal of a Gunnera, you might also consider planting the Rice Paper Plant, Tetrapanax papyriferus, but this will probably be killed back to the roots in winter in most PNW locations. Melianthus major is another great foliage plant, but will often be killed back to the roots outside USDA zone 9a conditions. As to Acanthus, you should also look for the attractive A. spinosus, which has distinctive looking leaves. Acanthus does perfectly well in full sun in more coastal locations that don't get the baking summer heat of interior Oregon, but in its native Mediterranean habitats it will also quite willingly grow in full sun locations as well. In dry summer locations, it will go summer deciduous, and come back into growth with fall rains. In irrigated gardens, the yellowing, heat damaged foliage can simply be pruned off, and it will often push new foliage immediately if watered and fertilized, or can be allowed to wait until it cools off and starts raining again.