You may have difficulty finding all of these in one place, especially locally. Tetrapanax is not a common item in this area, although sometimes larger nurseries will bring in a few. Mesogeo on Bainbridge Island grows it - otherwise, you may need to do mail order. If you are looking for big, bold foliage you might want to check out Gunnera, which is pretty common in this area.

And what kind of privet are you looking for? Common privet is not very popular and evergreen waxleaf privet is prone to powdery mildew and often winter damage in this climate.

The lilacs you should be able to find in season, although you may want to put in a special request at your favorite nursery -- we sold out of an entire shipment in a single weekend.

Just an FYI - a good many local nurseries do not take plant orders. One, because they often have to place their orders well in advance of the current nursery sales or growing season, especially if from non-local vendors. And two, because there is never a guarantee they can get the plant you are looking for: vendors may be sold out for the season, just do not grow it or if available, will need to piggyback it on another shipment that meets delivery minimums, which is sometimes a big chore. But most will take special requests and do their best to bring what you are looking for......just no guarantees, especially on timing.

In Woodland off I-5 is the Hulda Klager lilac gardens, which is open to the public for a gate fee of $2. They sell some lilacs in their gift shop but didn't list them.

Bloomerang lilac gets some bad feedback on google.

Forest Farm has a lot of lilacs listed, and is mailorder, but did't list Tetrapanax.

I went to the Hulda Klager lilac garden last year during peak bloom season. They do sell a lot of lilacs there but I don't recall 'Boomerang' being one of them. They have 3" potted lilacs for five bucks. I bought two and potted them into gallons and they are full gallon sized now. One, 'Tinkerbelle' is now covered with buds. They had a big one that had yellow variegated foliage that was great but I have no space for one that gets that big.

Bloomerang (cultivar name 'Penda') is a 2009 introduction. It really does rebloom (primary spring flush, then a resting period followed by a much lighter, later summer bloom flush) but it is very much unlike common lilacs so it may not be what everyone expects. A sport of 'Josee' (another rebloomer), it is a hybrid of 4 different species and is quite compact - only to about 4' - and with small foliage and small but fragrant purple flowers. It does not produce the large, heavy racemes of what most folks expect when they think of lilacs and there is a relatively large gap of time during the middle of summer when it is not in bloom -- this may be what folks are objecting to.

Someone posts that in the Midwest it gets powdery mildew and blights, is a blah shade of pale purple, and has to be sheared back by 1/3 in order to rebloom, and that dwarf Korean lilacs will also do this. I don't have any experience with it myself.

Not sure what kind of privet I want. I wanted something fast growing & dense to provide privacy and a barrior for my dog. The privet seems to fit the bill. I don't mind that I have to shear it back a couple times a year. We could put up a nice fence but we'd have to hire out to do all that.

I still like the Tetrapanex better! Not sure if the Gunerra would do as well in our sunet 3 area. I'm in Central Washington and we don't have the temperate climate the west coast has. Although, the Gunerra would look awsome next to our creek.

Can't wait til Spring! I get excited thinking about what to plant where and hoping I don't kill it.

The two big-leaved things will have to be covered each winter to make it there.

Tetrapanax "Steroidal Giant" can likely be found at Wells Media in Bellevue and Jungle Fever in Tacoma later in the season. Steamboat Island Nursery in Olympia grows them and wholesales to the above two nurseries, as well as a number of others. They used to do retail on weekends during the season, but stopped doing so late last spring. However, they do still show up at a number of plant sales in the area. You can check them out here (although it looks like the schedule has yet to be updated for this season). The Gunnera is much more widely available than the Tetrapanax.

Cathy in Olympia

Here is a link that might be useful: Steamboat Island Nursery