Vitex grows well enough here in the SF Bay Area, but has never been all that popular of a shrub on the bay side of the hills. It tends to be a lot more popular where one gets hot summers and cold winters. In fact, I would say it is probably more popularly seen in places like Palm Springs or Arizona than here. There are a few wholesale nurseries that do grow Vitex, but not the cultivars you mention. Mail order will probably be the best source. Just as an aside, not all natives are deer proof, and alot of the Ceanothus in particular are deer food. You might also consider some of the South African succulents; both drought tolerant and often deer proof. Cotyledon orbiculata in particular, and also many of the Aloes, although they will sometimes eat the flowers off Aloes. You might get good information on most deer resistant and drought tolerant natives to select from at the natives nursery at Tilden Park. This is close enough to you that the deer resistance of particular plants would be meaningful...

I hit the wrong button above and hadn't finished writing. I see the title got clipped. It should say zone 9b. Anyway, I think I covered everything, except to mention that I also picked up Asarina erubescens (not one of our original picks, but it just looks very easy. I have not grown Asarinas before.

A site in the Bay area where you can build a house...What a lucky person! I would think that you would want to put the most beautiful and well designed and built structure on your property as possible. Given this rare opportunity, I would suggest that you find an architect - one who designs 'green' and is sensitive to the land. In the end, for many reasons, an architect can save you at least the fee that she or he charges, help you develop and express your own unique vision of home, and create a structure that will be a testament to conscientious building rather than another blight on the land. As an alternative, you may find architecturally designed homes on these websites: healthyhomeplans.com or architecturalhouseplans.com These plans have been designed and built for actual clients, and are offered as an alternative to standard stock plans. If you find a plan, you could take it to an architect or engineer to detail for your particular codes and conditions. I think there are a number of plans that were designed for sloped properties. An architect or engineer could easily modify the plans to work with your conditions. Good luck with your project!

Here, for 10 square feet of granite fabricated into the vanity that you describe in an average granite would be around $1200 average, including the granite. That includes the installation of two undermount sinks at around $200 each for the labor charge to mount them, sinks not included. That also includes the charge for the offset cut. We are in a low labor cost area and do not use prefab slabs. Most places are all inclusive, charging stone and labor together, not separated. But, of the few that do labor only, you'd be talking $30-$60 a square foot, depending on the stone and the complexity of the job. A more expensive stone is more expensive to fabricate because of the "insurance" factor. I can easily see the labor price between my location and yours doubling.