shastensis, According to Dr. Bob Zybach of Oregon the old growth in the Northwest was comparable to today's old growth over a century ago in the settlement era. He studied fire history in the state of Oregon and believes most of the trees were second growth when the white man came. Zybach has said reports of Douglas fir in excess of 300 feet are mostly stories that cannot be documented, and he has said that the city of Vancouver BC was a prairie before the white man came. I think his views are the minority opinion. He was a reforestation contractor for 20 years, so I value his input. Most estimates I have seen suggest between 70 and 90% of the biggest and oldest Douglas fir forests have been logged in the past 130 years. In some places like Southern Vancouver Island up to 99% of old growth fir is said to be gone. One need only look at the hundreds of old logging photos of giant fir and cedar to get an idea of how large the lowland forests once grew, and in places like present day Seattle, and Vancouver BC. To deny all of this pretty much tells me one would have to be a lobbyist for the timber industry, but that is just my gut feeling.

"Roughly speaking, how much of the flora is unable to grow on the West Coast?" Seems like it's usually more like what won't grow here? (Often with bad consequences, in the case of invasives.) For instance, my mother is endlessly frustrated by my interest in native plants (she is in New Mexico), as she says "You can grow ANYTHING there and you plant plain old Apricot Mallow???!" lol. Of course, I still have a lemon tree, orange tree, palm tree, tea tree, orchid tree, hibiscus, hydrangea, avocado etc....Full disclosure: I am a newbie and just got some actual dirt a year ago - but it has been amazing to learn about this amazing climate - which is Mediterranean btw. Often I wish there was a California version of every forum here - particularly veggies, since our planting times are totally different. Some books I like: Mediterranean Kitchen Garden: Growing Organic Fruit and Vegetables in a Hot, Dry Climate by Mariano Bueno, Pat Welsh's Southern California Gardening, and California Native Plants for the Garden by Carol Bornstein et al. The Sunset Bible is also on my shelf. The micro-climate is crucial - I am in East LA and have a totally different zone than you will in Santa Monica. One thing that I'll add to look into for native plants is the Theodore Payne Foundation which is local - it's really a neat non-profit nursery and educational resource.

Came through ok here as well. Minor damage from winds, couple small trees down, some large limbs down are common. Winds only gusted up to around 50MPH here during heavy rain bands. Only knocked over my 5' windmill in its pot, but no damage. Bananas got a bit of shred, but not real bad. The water came up to the drain tops here, and moved up in the toilet some, but nothing like we saw before. We had sandbagged and prepared yesterday. IT figures we didnt flood. I would put money on it if we had not had the sand bags ready, we would have flooded massively. Just how things go it seems. LOL! Cute citty Jonnieb. I found my cat the night after Isabel went thru. I was helping my friend move into his new house in columbia heights, and i saw this tiny little dot in the yard. Just a couple ears sticking up. I approached but he ran away, but kept coming back, we put water in ice cube trays for him ( its all we had at the time) and he would come and drink, but was very skittish. I finally got him, no mother be found anywhere, no cat calling, nothing. We think his mother may have perished during the storm / flooding. He was flea ridden and terribly imaciated, just skin and bones really. I took him home that night, and took him to the vet the following week. At that point we did not know he was a boy, so I named him Isabel, after the storm. At the vet, the vet said to me.. well, Isable, IS A BOY! LOL! I had to bottle feed him with an eye dropper for a couple weeks. He weighed a whopping 6 ounces and completely fit in the palm of my hand, tail and all. The vet said he was likely the runt, and he was barely 4 weeks old. Hes now 5 years old as of the last week in august, and is a happy, healthy, but lean, and smaller house cat. Hes got the most beautiful ocean green eyes. Hes still got that "WILD" in him tho. He was after all a wild ferral city kitty. Heres a couple of pics of him.

Yes, there are roses out there that will survive well below -20 but I don`t know what kind of humidity you have in the summer. That can often create problems with powdery mildew and blackspot. The Canadian rose series Explorer, Parkland and Canadian Artists groups are pretty tough for the most part. Any shrub roses(Hansa for example are also very tough - I grew it in the Northwest Territories -40 below and colder and it did fine) I would think that Quadra, John Cabot, Felix LeClerc, Henry Kelsey, Ramblin` Red or William Baffin could work for you. Some of these are REALLY thorny but vigorous. Hope that helps.