ironymaiden | what is this climate i live in?

this will be my first summer with dirt of my own in the northwest. i'm allowed to do whatever with the green space. (okay, as much as i want to eliminate all of the grass in front of and to the side of the house, i probably won't sink money into that kind of improvement. it's still a rental.) i'm probably going to do more maintaining than adding or altering until i see a life cycle and know what is already growing here.
my problem is that all of my garden lore is for the northeast US, on the border between zone five and zone six. Seattle is zone eight, same as Georgia. this is total bullshit- while we share mild winters, the humidity, summer temperatures, and rainfall patterns couldn't be much more different.
dear Seattle gardening transplants, how did you learn to make your garden grow? do you have a book or organization you would recommend? i'm more interested in flowers than food right now.