Jessica wrote:

Hello all! I live in the Pacific NW and was wondering if any gardeners
around here can recommend some winter plants to bring some cheer to my
garden during November through May. Paghats website has been very helpful
concerning winter berries, crocuses, and other things. Just wondering if
anyone else had some tips! Thanks for your help!

There are scores of winter interest plants available for our climate and most
good garden centers should carry a wide selection. You might also want to
check out some books that address this subject: 'Winter Ornamentals' by Dan
Hinkley is an excellent reference; Christopher Lloyd's 'Gardening Year' and
Ann Lovejoy's 'The Year In Bloom' are helpful as well. Both Hinkley and
Lovejoy are local gardening celebrities and authors.

Some of my favorite winter interest plants are the following:
Camellia sasanqua
Sarcococca
Witch hazels
Winterhazel and wintersweet
Mahonia x media cultivars
Helleborus
Rubus calcynoides
Wintergreen
Epimedium grandiflorum and rubrum (reliably evergreen with winter coloration)

any cotoneaster
evergreen grasses and their like, like Carex ssp, mondo grass, Phormiums,
etc.
red and yellow twig dogwoods
Stewartia pseudocamellia (bark)
Acer grisseum (bark)
winter daphne
nearly any dwarf conifer
and of course the winter interest offered by assorted herbaceous perennials
like ornamental grasses, sedums, coneflowers, etc.

In this mild climate, if one doesn't address planting for winter, you are
missing out on a whole bunch of great plant material, year round.

pam - gardengal