Maybe Wyethia amplexicaulis...white Mule's Ears??? Link to info below. Whatever the plant turns out to be, your images are gorgeous. :-) Rosie Here is a link that might be useful: Mule's Ears

What about Star Jasmine (trachelospermum jasminoides). But what problem you are trying to solve, or what are you trying to accomplish? Are you just trying to hide the downspout? Painting it the same color as the house will make it much less noticible. You would need something for the vine to climb up on--it's not going to wrap itself around a drainpipe very easily.

Certainly Sunset spent more time on California than the Northwest... not only on the detail of the climate zones but also in figuring out exactly which plants perform adequately in which ones. But I'm not sure if it necessarily follows that they should provide better coverage for the Northwest, because some agency (publisher, etc.... whatever) in our area might be able to do a much better job of it. It would be exciting to see a Northwest focused counterpart to Sunset's Western Garden Book. As far as climate zones go, I think the zones used in the Timber Press Guide to Gardening in the Pacific Northwest are good as a starting point. Other aspects of that book, such as the coverage of plants, are not of the same caliper as Sunset's Western Garden Book. In fact I really can't think of a Northwest focused book that is. That's unfortunate considering the Northwest else has so much else to be proud of for being unique and being first. A lot of British literature is useful and comprehensive, but those books are often difficult to find, and many gardeners on both sides of the pond will continue to struggle to grasp how different our climates are from each other.

It sounds like trachycarpus, needle palms, pindo palms, jubaea, braheas, maybe Date palms, and mediterranean fan palms would all do well by you! A mix of those palms would look really impressive, Braheas and pindo palms add a lot of color, Trachys grow tall reasonably fast and will have no problems in your climate, Jubaea's are really slow growing, but very cold tolerant and get to huge sizes in a few decades. Date palms would be marginal in your area but I would give them a try! Good luck! -Alex