LaHonda area is a gorgeous setting to live in, and on maps may appear as a shorter commute to Stanford, but the elevation and twisting roads and storms and fallen trees and mudslides can all make the regular commute a daily grind if you don't enjoy driving very twisty roads. It is also alot harder to find that great California winter sun while living in a redwood forest, which is dark, wet and cold all winter, while it can be quite pleasant in Palo Alto. One of the south peninsula area has any areas that could be considered reasonable rents or house prices compared to South Carolina, but East Palo Alto is an up and coming area that will only continue to improve over time, and is conveniently close. Crime and unemployment and a more racially mixed dynamic that is still somewhat weighted towards less Anglo prevails there, but there are lots of new homes and remodeling going on there, and it is gentrifying. If you want to be close to Stanford and keep your home purchase price as low as possible, it is really the only alternative. Also be warned that the further north you get away from Stanford, the less summery weather you will get. I grew up in nearby Burlingame, abit further north, and the summers are alot cooler there than in Menlo Park/Palo Alto. If you like cooler nights,(regular fog almost every evening off the coast cools things down), it is fine; but if you like wearing shorts and sandals and hanging out in the backyard after dark, you won't be doing this much if you live north of Redwood City, but the days are still very nice. If you move as far north as San Bruno/South San Francisco/Daly City/Pacifica, you may also be entering the daytime fog zone, and you should really prefer it cooler rather than hot summery. Alot of people who work in Silicone Valley/Palo Alto area also do commute from the East Bay, which is a long commute, but housing prices are still much more reasonable in Alameda County. I myself live in the alternative university town of Berkeley, after having grown up on the peninsula. I like it because it is much more diverse both racially and economically, as well as being closer to San Francisco for entertainment and employment. I do know people who commute from Berkeley/Alameda all the way down to Palo Alto/Mountain View for work, but I don't particularly recommend it, as it would be more than an hour each way with very heavy traffic during commute hours. Good luck with your decision, but get used to spending alot more money on housing, which will probably mean some lifestyle changes to make the budgeting work.

You might try corn gluten meal, as a grass killer. Lay it early as a pre-emergent, and reapply if you get sprouts. Not supposed to be poison for animals or birds, since it is almost regular corn meal. Garden sounds interesting, lots of fun for the cats. Geraniums might be of interest, not poison. They come in many sizes of tiny to large. Huge selection in flower colors, scented leaves and leaf shapes. Apple, rose, lemon, orange are scents that I have smelled. Put them where you will brush against them to release the scent. Bloom almost all the time in full sun. Pergoliam is the Latin, I think, which they might be listed under. They were real popular in Colonial times for scented leaves used in potpourri, flavoring food. Mine are floral, but the cat here does enjoy biting the leaves at times, sitting in front of the french doors in the sun. She also likes the Rosemary plant topiary! Nasturtiams are edible though not my favorite flower on food. Kind of a peppery taste when we ate them in a salad. Flowers are pretty, bright colors, like the sun. Martha Stewart sold seeds for a climbing variety, but mine missed the fence, just crawled around. Foliage is cute too, round leaves. Chrysanthemums are edible, very popular in Asian food. Japanese or Chinese, can't remember. They sprinkle the petals in soup, salads. Should be OK for a cat to chew on. Many shapes, heights, colors to choose from. They flower better with pinching tips back until 4th of July. You get more blooms on sturdy, shorter stems. They are perennials, can return each spring. Mine tend to be shorter lived, but other folks plants live for long times. Two of the flowers I named are annuals. Geraniums can be saved as plants over winter, dry in the dark basement or potted in front of windows over winter. Nasturtiams are available by seed in spring or you might be able to save seeds from this years plants.

Thanks! That was quick! Sounds great, I've got them planted at the edge of a butterfly garden interspersed with firebush. I hate not knowing what a plant is!

Blue and purple flower tones photograph less accurately than any other color IMO and sometimes the nurseries "enhance" a photo's color, and in my garden, light levels effect the color of blues, so photographing the same plant with the same camera at different times of day and sun conditions will give me quite different colors. So you want to look at leaf shape, blossom size and petal shape and gappiness/overlap, and the color and size/texture of the center boss of stamens. Sometimes petal count helps, though for many it's somewhat variable. Looking at the seed clusters may help. If you aren't familiar with Clematis on the Web, you can fill in what you know (in this case that it's group integrifolia) and try blue, purple and violet for color to see what possibilities arise. However, GG48 has given you a good list of possibilities that are/were readily available in the US. Another one is Miranda, a sister to Arabella that is darker and was available for a while but seems to be no longer. If you aren't in the US, perhaps someone from your country can chime in. CotW is an international listing and not all are available in the US and not all are available on the market, so it will give you a lot of excess in the list of possibilities. There are a few in the River series developed by Wim Snoeijer in the Netherlands, but I don't know if any have been available in the US for more than 3 or 4 years, and I doubt if one would find them at a big box store.