Gardens are different in San Francisco

I went to San Francisco for a conference last week. It was my first trip away from Austin since I started my garden, and I found out how fun it is to observe new plants and new gardening styles in a different place.

A few discoveries...

San Francisco is all about hedges. Everybody there makes their bushes into hedges. I think it can look cool, but it's not what I'm going for in my garden. Here's a shot of a pretty amazing hedge:

Similar to the hedges, they really go for a manicured look over there. Here are some grotesque trees that appear to get constantly cut back for a certain look and size.

There are a couple of plants I saw all over that are gorgeous. One of them is this yucca tree looking thing. It seems like it would be right at home in Austin. The other are these large trees with long leaves. They are like jumbo olive trees, and they are very attractive.

In the city, space is limited, and people do some cool mini gardens. I spotted some really cool succulent gardens, which were a surprise, because I don't think of San Francisco as having a climate for a succulent garden. However, when I looked it up, Austin gets 10 more inches of rain per year than San Francisco, so it makes sense (SF) (AUS).