Ted Kipping's Garden


Harland Hand [1922-1998], inspired by the principles of fine art and rock formations in the High Sierra, designed this hillside garden with breathtaking views of San Francisco Bay.

Using concrete, curving lines and dramatic color combinations, Hand created an emotionally evocative space that houses an extraordinary plant collection.


Ted Kipping's garden on Mount Davidson in San Francisco was designed by Harland Hand in 1985 on a double lot, 100 feet by 50 feet, surrounding a Victorian house. The garden's many microclimates accommodate a wide range of culturally demanding rare plants. Borrowed views of Victorian buildings and unusual trees and a path into an adjacent city park add to the sense of being in another place and time, when this area of the city was farmland.

Ted Kipping was a plantsman, photographer, lecturer, and certified arborist. His photographs appeared in numerous horticultural journals. Visit Kipping Photo Gallery.

For a humorous view of the building of the garden, see: "Birth of A Nascent" Rock Garden by Marjory Harris (reprinted by permission of the Western Chapter of the North American Rock Garden Society, Spring & Summer 1986)

Photos courtesy of (c) Ted Kipping, all rights reserved