Great sense of community among volunteers and a wonderful place if you are looking for a quiet place in Palo Alto.
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Living near The Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden is a wonderful benefit of home ownership in Palo Alto. The peaceful gardens are pleasant to stroll in especially in the early morning hours and at twilight. The Gardens and old mansion are kept up by volunteers who work daily to make the property beautiful. I have attended adult educational classes and monthly luncheons from time to time and find them well run and great fun. The estate was willed to the city of Palo Alto by Elizabeth Gamble, the daughter of one of the founders of Proctor and Gamble, but she left no financial funding for the upkeep. Consequentially, volunteers must raise all the money for the yearly budget and expenses. As our neighborhood volunteers are aging, money is always a concern. A former mayor of Palo Alto, Leonard Ely, once called the Gamble Garden, "The Crown Jewel of the City". It is the hope of the community to keep it this way for future generations.
I have lived around the corner from Gamble Garden since January 1997. I enjoyed its beauty and serenity and shared it with my friends and family. After I retired in 2014 I decided to get involved in its maintenance and preservation as a payback for all the enjoyment that I had derived. I now sit on the board and am involved in the annual spring tour fund raiser.
After 20 plus years of working with this non-profit, I am amazed at how vital and forward thinking Gamble Garden continues to be. With each new executive director and horticulturist, Gamble Garden moves its mission higher. While remaining an oasis of calm in busy Silicon Valley, it never stops benefiting the community through educating children and adults alike on the joys of nature. From educational programs like roots and shoots, flower arranging demonstrations, pruning classes and water conservation through drought tolerant plants to promoting special themes every second Saturday of the month, Gamble Garden continues to excel. Besides garden volunteers tend to be a down and dirty bunch of fun people.
Second Saturdays at Gamble Garden are wonderful for all ages. You can explore the garden and visit Elizabeth’s house. Or take a guided nature hunt and do cool hands-on nature crafts. I'm one of the volunteer garden guides and I love Second Saturdays. Best of all, they are open to all and they're free.
If you love gardens and history, classes, events and getting down on your knees in the garden, then Gamble is the place for you. Inspiration, education and events in a beautiful, convenient location and lots of wonderful like-minded volunteers with whom to work, Gamble has it all. Plus book groups, nature hunts gardening tips and delicious lunches made and served by volunteers, and gardening done by third graders close-by. Gamble is a treasure for all who visit and for all who volunteer.
Gamble Garden is a 2 and half acre historical house and garden in the middle of Palo Alto. Stop by to see - demonstration gardens, a fantastic cutting garden, multi-generational Roots and Shoots educational garden, the Rose and Wisteria gardens, and the 100 + year old home. There is a horticultural reference library on-site and plant sales throughout the year of unique specimens to add to any pot or home garden. Gamble Garden offers many classes for all ages. Check their website www.gamblegarden.org for class and program information. The property is easily accessible by bike, foot, train or car, is free to visit and open to the public from dawn to dusk, 7 days a week. This lovely venue, available to rent, has seen many weddings, anniversary parties and corporate off-sites. The property is entirely supported by donations, a very small paid staff and over 300 volunteers! Gamble Garden receives no funding from the city or state.
this garden is a center of calm and beauty in a hurly-burly valley filled with traffic, crowds and pollution. I enjoy the luncheons during the holidays, strolling through the garden at different times of year to enjoy the blooming beauty, the special events that are held and the help from master gardeners periodically offered at the garden.
Gamble Garden is both a dramatic demonstration garden and an oasis in the heart of Silicon Valley. The gardens highlight the enormous variety of plants that will grow in our environment from shade- and water-loving plants to high-sun, low-water plants. Plants are well-labeled and the staff is eager to help. But if beauty and relaxation are what you are after stroll through the head-high dahlias or sit in the shade by the Tea House. Coupled with Gamble's intensive community outreach like the Roots and Shoots program for elementary schools, the garden is a local treasure.
Gamble Garden is always open and a beautiful place to be. In addition there are many community volunteers that help keep it that way. There is something for everyone from the oldest to the youngest.
Gorgeous gardens filled with flowers, perfect for family photo / graduation photo sessions. We wanted to book this venue for our wedding because it was so pretty but the venue capacity was a tad too small for our needs.
I've volunteered at Gamble Garden for over five years. There are many opportunities including working in the garden, assisting with the children's programs, helping with the adult education program, fundraising, office work and more. This garden is free for everyone every day of the year! They receive no city, state or government funding. When I am at Gamble Garden, I see people from all walks of life enjoying the special place that it is.