Landscaping in San Francisco is a small, foggy, windy space, not a lawn that needs a desert schedule. Many lots have a light well, a narrow side yard, a front stoop, and maybe a roof deck instead of a backyard. Sun is limited, especially on east-of-the-hill blocks that stay gray. Wind tunnels between attached houses dry pots and then the fog wets them again. Drainage runs toward old foundations on slopes. A planting plan from a sunny valley will rot, flop, or blow over in a month.
Work with shade, wind, and the building. Ferns, shrubs that tolerate salt damp, and structured pots do better than a turf panel that stays muddy. Irrigation, if you use it, should be modest. The bigger water problem is often the roof and the grade, not the plants. A yard that slopes to a crawl-space vent will keep the house damp no matter how handsome the path looks. Decks need a membrane and a drain, because a roof deck is a roof. Trees in a tiny rear yard can lift a path and pack a gutter on a flat roof you rarely see. Keep soil and mulch off siding so the wood can dry between fog events.
Access and neighbors shape the job. Materials may come through a hallway. A shared fence is not the place for a surprise structure. Containers on a roof need weight and wind thought, not just a pretty herb. Weeds still grow in this mild damp, especially in gravel that never gets a hot dry week. If you want a place to sit, build the drainage first and the seat second. The fog will test any wood that touches the ground.
Call with the space you actually have. Stoop, light well, slope, or roof deck are different jobs. Say where the sun lands, if it lands at all, and where water goes in a rain. The planting has to live in San Francisco fog and wind without soaking the house.
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