I plan to attend!

I am also unless something happens like this year. I waivered about going to this years because of various NC laws but in the end new struts and front axel wiped out my travel budget. There is great plant shopping in the areas south of Portland and along the Columbia to the west. Cistus Nursery sits near the Columbia and you used to be able to select plants to be picked up with a couple of days notice. There are so many good plant places some on the map I mentioned some not.

I wavered on this year's as well but came down on the negative side. Nothing to do with laws, more like in-laws, flew my MIL, mom and daughter out here for a visit instead. THEN had vehicle problems as well....it all adds up, doesn't it?

Yes it does. I had thought you had made it to this years. Oh Well there is next year.

I used to go to the PNW groups meeting that used to be held the first Saturday in March. Always flew Southwest because I could cram many plants in a 27 inch suitcase. Would make a loop after spending one day shopping then down to Cottage Grove to Territorial Seeds to see what was new then over to the coast. Up the coast to Astoria then inland. A few years I did it in reverse. Would normally only take me three or four days depending on how fast I drove. Going north you are on the cliff side of the highway if heights bother you. There are a couple of nurseries on the coast and one park with great water plants. The area that the plants are in is small but interesting. http://oregonstateparks.org/index.cfm?do=parkPage.dsp_parkPage&parkId=81

Thanks maifleur, I saved that site to check out! I'll start planning the extra bits of the trip this winter when I'm dreaming of spring and blooms.....

Received my copies of the nursery association retail map. Sadly because of the increase in dues and other issues some of my favorite places like Brooks and Heirloom Roses are not on it. This time some gardens are also included on the map. I would suggest asking for two. One that you can mark with nurseries and their locations that are not listed and Two circle the ones that are must visit.

I always like to go to Portland Rose Garden, nothing to do with peonies, but a great garden.

The Japanese garden on the hill above the Rose Garden is great for just wandering. In my previous trips the leaves were starting to show and there are so many Japanese maples with pink foliage. Most are seedlings from times when there was not enough staff to remove all of them, what I was told. If they would allow grafting of them and collect the royalties there should be enough to cover all of the expenses until their plants became more common. Look carefully at the leaves as there are many different color and shape patterns.

I've been told that there are iris growers/sellers in that area as well, a bonus since I've started collecting more seriously this year.

Schreiner's is just down or up I5 depending on if meeting is in Portland or Salem. You can see the fields from the highway going South is on right side of road. Brooks has many iris but do not normally sell at that time of the year. Cooley's is also another one but I have not visited it. It is near Schreiner's. There are others but these are the ones that I know of.

I'm just hoping to see some in bloom, much easier to tell what I really want to add to my garden with seeing them in real life vs pictures. We also have a couple of huge growers here in CO, I'll be visiting both this spring!