The Wave Garden In Richmond Point
The Wave is a private garden overlooking the San Francisco Bay.
The homeowners bought the lot between their house and the water and turned it into a garden. A great idea, if you have the cash.
We Flingers got there late in the afternoon. We staggered out of the coaches, hot and tired, yet this extraordinary garden got our adrenaline going. “Can’t give up now,” we gasped. “We must appreciate and photograph this garden to uphold the honor of the Fling.”
Our sense of mission revived, we set to work.
The garden features curving concrete walls and walks fit to the contours of the lot. The beds themselves are also terraced.
There was custom made ironwork for the railings.
The garden is full of drought tolerant plants adapted to a Mediterranean climate. As I noted in a previous post, I am not familiar with most of the plants found in California gardens, especially the succulents. Helpful Flingers told me some of the names, after which I could remember them for as much as five to ten minutes. Anyhow, here are some of the plants at The Wave Garden.
Oh, I know this one! It’s an Aeonium!
There were a number of bronze sculptures.
This is a drought tolerant garden, but also one that requires considerable attention – including some irrigation. Kellee Adams, the landscape designer, told us that there was an ongoing process of editing, as plants were faded away under the harsh conditions or thrived too well.
If I remember right, we were told that a professional gardener devotes about eight hours a week to The Wave, an amount of time that was described as “not enough”. On the other hand, I easily spend more than eight hours a week on my own much smaller garden, so perhaps the wave could be described as “low maintenance”.
From this garden we headed back to the hotel to rest before our Friday evening gathering.
gardeninacity 
I loved this take on The Wave garden. I was too hot and tired to take good pictures. You and Judy were troopers! I can commiserate on the not knowing plant names. It’s so overwhelming to have to learn all that new stuff. We moved to Washington four years ago from Massachusetts (from Zone 5/6 to Zone 8-ish), and I had to learn lots of new plants. I hope you make it to Toronto in two years, I’m sure those gardens will have plants you’re familiar with, less of a learning curve, and great lessons that you can take away to your own garden.
I certainly hope to make it to Toronto. Not knowing the plants isn’t so bad, it can make the gardens fascinating if unfamiliar.
I recognize a lot of the plants, but don’t know their names either! Beautiful setting for this lovely garden. Sounds like a great retreat!
It was a lot of fun.
I think you summed up our determined approach very well. I was flagging at this point and my photos are awful since I spent more time seeking out shade and I didnt like all the concrete!
It’s funny, the concrete did not bother me. Possibly because I knew I would never have a garden like that. I think also the concrete fit somehow with the heat and dryness of the setting.
Sooooo prettyyyyy. I am not particularly a succulent lover but this is one of my favorite gardens that you have posted on. I wish I could have seen it in person! Seems to have an artsy feel to it.
The concrete, ironwork, and garden art definitely shaped the space.
We saw so many fabulous gardens in such a short time. The free form concrete and metal work at this garden were perfect! They were unique but didn’t overpower the plants. It’s really wonderful that the owners of the garden allow public access!
The public access is a very positive thing. I also found the concrete work very interesting, a little bit like an Escher drawing.
I’ve enjoyed following along on the Fling, and while I’ve enjoyed all the gardens this garden looks so unique. It also looks very hot with all the raised beds and walkways. I have to agree that 8 hours/week maintaining that garden doesn’t seem like a lot but low maintenance is all in the eye of the maintainer!
It was very hot, there were record temps in the Bay Area that weekend. Plus this is a garden without shade, although the normal weather is mild and I’m sure the owners didn’t want to block the view of the Bay.
Hi Jason, that’s an amazing garden, beautifully designed with some incredible plants. I’m really appreciating the hard work you’re putting in with going around all these gardens, taking photos and writing about them. Hope you’re enjoying yourself too!
I definitely enjoyed myself, though at times I did get tired. Being driven around to lots of gardens is the kind of hardship I don’t mind!
It’s a beautiful garden with an amazing view but wow-what it must have cost.
I know, I kept thinking about that, too.
This was a real artful garden with all the curving concrete and terracing. I enjoyed the space but no doubt, it was hot!
It was another garden I really appreciated but not one I would feel at home in.
The planting seems very similar to the planting we saw earlier in the year at Tresco, an island just off the SW corner of England. I see a Protea on one of your photos which comes from S Africa. Tresco never needs watering, nature does it all. I thought the concrete rather overpowered the planting, which was a shame. It looks so hot, I would have been wilting!
A number of people had that reaction to the concrete. Because it was so curvy I found it more interesting than overpowering.
Hardscaping is a bit overwhelming but the plants are stunning. Your photos are great…you did a good job with the sharp light.
Judy deserves all the credit. I just held the lens cap.
Yes that is a lot of concrete. Like a big sculpture almost. I guess we all have that ‘ongoing editing’ in our gardens. Fun to see all those intrepid Flingers in action!
Intrepid was our middle name. In fact maybe it should be called Garden Bloggers’ Intrepid Fling.
Nice!!!
Exactly.
I like this one as I also would not see or create this space so i appreciate the creative person who did…love curves and Med gardens…it reminds me of some I saw on the coast of Italy.
I think the designers definitely had the Mediterranean in mind.
A really great post. It was very hot and I didn’t make much of an effort to get over there and listen to the designer–sounds like I should have!
If ever I get to an east coast fling, I hope you both will be there to ID all the plant’s I’ve never seen! 🙂
“Upholding the honor of the Fling” — I like it! Yes, it sure was hot, but this garden was incredible and well worth seeing no matter the temperature. I didn’t hear the designer’s talk about the garden, so I was glad for your comments about it: 8 hrs/wk to maintain keeps it all in perspective. To me that’s a lot. But then again, this garden is on public display all the time and must be kept fabulous.
Yes it was definitely worth seeing. I only heard part of the designer’s talk, wish I had heard the rest of it.