Damon, Artichokes will likely be the easiest and most dependable (in your area) of the types I mentioned before, if you're looking for easy. They also (in general) tend to store very well. Favorites of mine include Inchelium Red and Early Red Italian. The ubiquitous California Early and California Late should also do very well for you.
My favorite Marbled Purple Stripe, hands down, is Siberian. Pretty much bulletproof here in Texas - I can always count on it to produce large bulbs. Also, it stores well, and makes nice, large scapes which we remove from the plants before they flower and enjoy in stir fry, roasted, on the grill, etc. Metechi also does well.
Creoles can be a bit more iffy in my climate - I can grow them with some degree of success, but to grow them very well can be a bit more of a challenge than with the above mentioned types. I've tried several different Creole varieties over the last few years (basically any I can get my hands on as planting stock is hard to come by) and the ones that have consistently done the best here in Texas are Ajo Rojo, Creole Red, and Burgundy.
The cloves and bulbs tend to be smaller for Creoles, and storage isn't as good as with some other types, but flavor is very intense.
Filaree Farm (in Washington state) grows Creoles very well indeed. Some of my very best planting stock has come from there. Bob (Gourmet Garlic Gardens in TX) which Tom mentioned has been the source of some of my planting stock as well. Anyway, those are the two main sources (that I know of) for good Creole stock.
I suspect that the Asiatic/Turban types perhaps have more potential in your area based on comments on gardening forums I've read throughout the years from Ca gardeners. Here, they do fairly well, but I never get the huge bulb size that I've seen some Ca gardeners brag about... One nice thing about most A/T is that they are very early, usually the first type I start harvesting and you have to watch the leaves very carefully and not let too many go brown. Red Janice is one that does very well for me.
Elephant Garlic (leek) is mild, but makes huge bulbs and cloves, and huge scapes as well. I like the spring scapes from it so much that I'd grow it for the scapes even if it didn't produce bulbs.
Order as soon you can. Many of the garlic suppliers are already sold out of several of their varieties. For future reference, May-June is usually a good time to at least start looking, especially if you want to order from Filaree or Gourmet Garlic Gardens - and most especially if you want the best chance at their Creoles.
We Grow Garlic (another great source) does things a bit differently, and they seem to wait to start selling after they've harvested, but they still tend to sell out fast nonetheless.
Territorial Seed is another place to take a look at for planting stock, and so is Seed Savers Exchange.
Bloosquall, who occasionally posts here, sells garlic as well.
Hope this helps.
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