Neighbors walking down Waverley Street found buckets of cut flowers on the sidewalk, set out by Elizabeth Frances Gamble. Her family brought her from Kentucky in 1902, when Waverley was a mud road. One year at Stanford, a degree from Wellesley, and then a lifetime at 1431 Waverley Street.
The flowers were one gift among many. She made arrangements for the hospital and helped young women through college. She kept opening her garden to neighbors. In 1971 she deeded the estate to the City on the condition that she and George, her brother, could stay for the rest of her life. She left no explanation. Her habits come close to an answer.
She died in 1981. The City had an overgrown estate and no plan. Two open houses drew twelve hundred people. Proposals ranged from senior housing to lawn bowling. The Garden Club of Palo Alto proposed a harder plan: a public garden, open to everyone, run by a new nonprofit that would ask the City for nothing. The Council debated for four hours on May 13, 1985, then voted eight to one. The people filling the chamber wore flowers from her garden.
Her name is still in the ground. Irises were her favorite flower. In 1994 Lois O'Brien, a hybridizer and longtime friend, named one for her: Iris 'Elizabeth Gamble.' It still flourishes along the garden's edges.
Now the community does the giving. Over 300 volunteers give 25,000-plus hours a year to a garden that is free and privately funded. "None of them have to be here," says Executive Director Mica Pirie. Every one began as a visitor. When asked about today's visitors, Mica answered, “I hope they leave feeling like it is partly theirs."
Forty-five years after her death, the garden is still giving things to whoever walks through the gate.
"I hope they leave feeling like it is partly theirs." – Mica Pirie
Visit Gamble Garden
1431 Waverley Street, Palo Alto. Free. Open daily during daylight hours; portions may close for events. Home and office hours: Monday through Friday, 9 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Look for
'Shiragiku' camellia. Miss Gamble bought it in 1938. It stands in front of the Tea House patio.
'Hikaru Genji' camellia. Also bought in 1938, it grows in the main house bed.
'Kumasaka' camellia. Bought in 1939, one of the oldest camellias in cultivation, recorded in Japan in 1695.
Iris 'Elizabeth Gamble.' Named for her in 1994, it grows along the perimeter.
The coral tree behind the Tea House. The Gamble family planted it.
Coming up
Second Saturday. Themed family activities such as tours, crafts, and storytime, 10 a.m. to noon, every second Saturday. Register in advance.
Winter Festival. December 3–5, 2026: decorated trees, a holiday marketplace, a bake sale, a tree auction. Some events are ticketed.
Spring Tour. April 23–24, 2027. A ticketed, self-guided tour of private Palo Alto gardens, with shopping at Gamble Garden.
Volunteer
Join the Dirty Knees Brigade in the garden, help at special events, or guide elementary students through Roots & Shoots.