Harper's Topiary Garden

Since we were already in Mission Hills...

I saw that we were pretty close to a hidden San Diego gem...

located on Vine and Union Streets with awesome views of the San Diego Airport and Point Loma.

We took side street to get here, marveling at many of the beautiful homes in this affluent neighborhood.

You will definitely NOT miss this house...

This is known as Harper's Topiary Garden. It's a private residence and yes, the couple who live here did this themselves. More specifically, the wife (her name really is Edna) and her gardener. These are solid topiaries, not that hollow bullshit. Please see the articles + video links at the end.  Because this is a private home, you may view this from the street. Don't be an a-hole and feel entitled to walking on and climbing their yard just to get some photos. Please respect their space.

There are so many shapes of animals and people here. So whimsical and fun to see in person!








On a tree, there is a sign saying  "Edna Scissorhands".

Here's a short video from Channel 10 a few years ago:


Just for fun, here's the trailer for Tim Burton's classic 1990 film, "Edward Scissorhands":


Articles/mentions:
Atlas Obscura
Hidden San Diego Oct 2017
SD Union Tribune April 2009
SunKissedHiker
CoolSanDiegoSights
Plus Joshua's post from California Through My Lens (he has fantastic photos in his post)

Harper's Topiary Garden
3547 Union St.
San Diego, CA 92103

Here are the reviews from you know where

As we were talking photos, several cars pulled up and some folks got out. One of the parents was mocking his son's sarcasm, "Ooh, shaped bushes...wow!".  Turns out they were visiting from Seattle and saw this place online and just had to see it. They were staying in Mission Beach and had already gone to Coronado. The dad asked us if we had any "local" recommendations for them.  We suggested going to OB since he mentioned his son wanted to go to a pier.  There's a lot of things to see in OB plus no shortage of food places (beer, ice cream, burgers, diners, even ramen) and shops.  I wonder if they ever did go.  They had one more day in San Diego. They really lucked out with the weather as well, which was nice.

We would end up going down this hill, Vine St...

to get to our next destination which was the newest location of a local San Diego Coffee roaster in a most unlikely place...