Climatically, Spain is quite similar to California. Even the landscape looks alike. During the summer, cork oaks with dark green foliage dot the landscape, and the grasses become dry. A combination of very drought-tolerant, low-growing shrubs and trees known as maquis cover many of the steep hillsides. Sun-loving tourists fill coastal towns, where the streets are planted to palms, silk oaks and eucalyptus. Brightly flowering bougainvillea and scarlet trumpet vines cover many walls. The interior portions of Spain are comparatively hot and dry. While irrigation is allowed in some regions, dry-land farming is normal in others. Vines must be very tough to grow under those conditions.

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