Elizabeth F Gamble Garden

Great place for family photos! Very beautiful setting with benches, stone, flowers, grass etc.

This is such a beautiful garden to come visit! There are a lot of flowers and the environment is so peaceful :)

My boyfriend and I recently went on a tour of Gamble Gardens. We had a very nice time exploring the grounds but was surprised that it was not as big as I thought it would be. It appears to be a very popular place for events as when we were there the place was crowded! But then there was not only the garden tour but also a rummage sale, farmer’s market like sale, complimentary coffee & tea, craft fair and plant sale. I enjoyed the event however found it strange that the garden tour was spread out through out the Palo Alto neighborhood at various houses, with a few spots not really of walking distance. I felt kind of like a noisy neighbor checking out the landscaping.
Pros:
–nice landscaped garden but small
–events held throughout the year
–free to explore the garden
–can rent space there for events
–quite a few Victorian buildings on site
Cons:
–during popular events, this place gets crowded
–limited parking nearby
–admission to events can be pricey unless you get tickets through an event service like Up & Out

This is an excellent garden to visit and stroll through, you know… if you’re not allergic to nature and such.
Beware, it’s a fairly small garden! Don’t come here expecting a huge displays of exotic flowers or grand fountains! It’s a beautifully maintained and humble neighborhood garden full of tulips and roses and lollipoped trees. The garden is clean and has many benches to rest and soak up the scenery. This is a fantastic little gem to come and wander and most importantly, to stop and smell the flowers which we earthlings often forget to do.
Life gets so hectic and busy 24/​7, I find peace when I come here. It truly is a little gem in ritzy Palo Alto! I’ve witnessed events hosted here, and although the venue appears small, it’s charming in the most historic way. I would love to get proposed here, or even married. (hint, boyfriend)
The streets surrounding this garden are also beautiful and worthy of continuing your stroll. The streets appear like they could be apart of a Desperate Housewives or The Stepford Wives. Very charming indeed and I love how secluded you feel once you’re inside.
Definitely pay this little but mighty garden a visit if ever you’re in Palo Alto! Avoid the crowds on University and come here for peace and tranquility.

Beautiful location for my son’s first bday! It was an instant hit and people kept asking me how I found the place. I was so happy to see my guests enjoying the patio and the library room that I had converted into a small kids playroom. Gabrielle was very helpful and guided us throughout to not make any mistakes and even helped me clean up a little. Booking it was easy and Jackie walked us through that process. If you book it off season and within 30 days of the event, it becomes even more affordable. Great space for hosting any kind of event and I am certainly going to use it again :)

We had our wedding here in September 2015. It was a beautiful and intimate location for our ceremony and reception. The venue coordinator, Gabrielle, is very nice. She has worked here for a long time, and is very experienced on giving us advice regarding various aspects of the wedding.
However, there were a few things that made the experience of holding our wedding here a little frustrating. I understand that not all of them could be controlled, but couples should be aware of these before choosing Gamble Gardens as their venue.
1. This venue has very strict noise restrictions, meaning that we could not DIY music or even use a microphone for the celebrant. Our ceremony was small, but some of our guests still could not hear clearly. We had to eliminate music because we could not afford the «permitted» musicians.
2. Gabrielle does not use email and does not answer her office phone, and I had no cell phone reception at work, so we had to play voicemail tag.
3. On the day of the wedding, despite many signs and two patrolling staff, random people wandered through our reserved part of the garden. People walked through our first look, and into the house, even into my dressing room. After the wedding, I could not find one gift, and still don’t know if it had been stolen from the gift table in the house.
4. The carriage house patio, where we had dinner, had two sets of lighting: some security lighting and lights in the big tree at the center of the patio, so I was told we did not need to provide additional lighting. However, on the night, the lights in the tree did not work. It was so dark that my father could not read his speech until he was practically standing in the carriage house. The worst thing was: we found out that the lights had been broken for over a week, but I was not notified at all. As a result, we barely had any dinner photos, our photographer had to skip dinner to set up more lighting, and we ate in very dim light. It was very disappointing and unprofessional that we were not given a chance to prevent this problem.
Overall, the venue was beautiful and well-​suited for a small wedding. However, there were issues that may or may not affect other weddings in this venue. If I had known of #3 and #4 when I was choosing a venue, I would have gone somewhere else.

We had our wedding here in October 2015 and it was the perfect venue for us. If you want to have an outdoor wedding with 50 guests or fewer and no DJ, this is a great option.
Pros: the setting is beautiful, we received many compliments from our guests and our photos turned out great. The venue was in a convenient location for us and there was enough parking for our guests and vendors. The price is very affordable for the area, you get a lot of space and a lot of time for a low cost. There are several different indoor and outdoor areas that you can use for getting ready, the ceremony, and the reception, as well as restrooms. We selected most of our vendors from their recommended vendor list, and we were very pleased with all of them. The wedding coordinator, Gabrielle, was very nice and very knowledgeable about the venue. She made sure we were aware of all the restrictions and followed them.
Possible cons: The property is owned by the City of Palo Alto, and there are many strict restrictions that must be followed. Visit their website to see the event contract and make sure these restrictions will work for you. For example: events are limited to 50 guests or fewer; amplification of any kind is not allowed (no recorded music, no speaker system, no DJ); only musicians from their list can be used. These restrictions were not a problem for us, but could be a dealbreaker for some. Communication with Gabrielle can be tricky, as she does not use email and is not often in the office.
Overall, this was a great venue for our event.

Small, boring park. Not much to see. Takes about 5 minutes to walk through.

for a local walk destination, a great place to «stop and smell the roses» along with many other flowers. There are always flowers blooming, and it’s a relaxing place to wander, sit for a while, and continue. A real neighborhood treasure.

Always good for a nice walk, just wish I would know when more events happened here

Open daily, the garden is free like a public park. Key parts are the white rose garden, vegetable garden, area with potted plants, and greenhouses for the horticulturalist to develop plants. The garden had unique plant varieties with plenty of flowers in bloom.
Not the famed Gamble House which is in Pasadena, it is still the same Gamble family of Procter & Gamble. The house is open weekdays 9A-​2P, but only a couple rooms on the first floor were accessible and it seemed like we were intruding as the house is also occupied with offices.
20 minutes to visit.

Great garden in the middle of a residential area by Stanford University. Perfect place to look around at the flowers, learn a bit about native and non-​native flora, and picnic under the trees. My favorite part is that it was definitely not busy when I went — and practically devoid of tourists!
Could only dream about having a wedding here — as long as it’s a small one.

A beautiful garden! Me and my fiancé did a photo shoot where I modeled for him and he took a lot of pictures. We had a lot of fun and it is a beautiful place. I noticed lately it hasn’t been taken care of as good as before, but I wonder if that just has to do with the drought, which would be okay. This is a great spot for picnics and even could be a good place for a small wedding. It is sort of small in size and the gazebos aren’t very big for events. Beautiful flowers though!

I just love this place, for relaxing, walking around taking photos. I find peace there with the different flowers and lovely smells. Take a picnic lunch and enjoy.

a really beautiful garden just outside of downtown palo alto… how could i have lived on the peninsula for 4 years and not have visited this garden until just last week? i guess in our busy lives, one only visits certain places on a «need» basis, rather than on a «want» basis.
this garden is just off the busy embarcadero road, but once inside the garden, it is actually rather peaceful, and absolutely gorgeous. at this time of year, in the early days of spring, assorted coloured tulips are blooming, making this garden very colourful and appealing to the eye. this place is great for taking a stroll, or sitting on one of the benches and just admiring the abundance of floral beauty right before your eyes!
this venue is also the site of various weddings and other outdoor functions throughout the year, so definitely look them up if you are considering having your event here!

Came here for a quick photoshoot in Palo Alto before it closed. Parking was easy to find and its free! Also, the garden is open daily from morning to sunrise. I came in expecting a lot of flowers, but I came a little to early during the year, so the only flowers blooming were the tulips. Overall, it’s a great place to take pics and the environment is very peaceful. Luckily a wedding was in session so I got to stay in a bit longer after 5 pm!

I spent a morning here with the family after searching for a nearby fun activity. The garden is very scenic and it was great for the two year old and four year old who love running around and being distracted by eye candy (flowers). It wasn’t too crowded when I was there so parking was ample. It was hot when I was there but there are plenty of shaded areas to seek refuge from the sun. They even had some picnic benches where we had a snack, and the only drawback is that the wooden surface wasn’t very clean with some bird poop scattered on the top.
This garden is free, is open during daylight hours and very scenic and is worth checking out if you are in the neighborhood.

The garden is free and open to the public every day. My friend held her wedding here. The grounds were beautiful, even though I didn’t have a chance to wander around and see everything. She had her wedding ceremony in the wisteria garden, cocktail hour at the tea house/​patio, and reception at the carriage house/​patio. It was a small and intimate wedding.

Another great find from Unilocal!Who would have known such a little gem hidden in the residential area of Palo Alto, unless you are a local? But then even a friend of mine who grew up in Palo Alto has never been to this place… Best part is that the admission is free and you can come and go any time as you please (during day time preferably that is) as there is no gate to enter either.
Was there yesterday and saw some beautiful tulips in full blossom. There are more plants and flowers in the garden, so just check their website for reference.
It’s not a big garden so you can walk around the full extent of it rather quickly. It’s also a great venue for weddings, special events and the like. It also seems like a perfect little quaint place to go for some quietness (if there is no event booked, like yesterday afternoon) and fresh air, taking photograph, or strolling with small children (if they can stand it). It does have some historic background and the old houses where you can find out more about Elizabeth F. Gamble. The admin office is only open weekdays 9 am to noon.

One of my favorite spots to do photosessions! :)
Beautiful & lovely :)
It’s so tranquil here, and I love seeing the different flowers. I’m always happy whenever my clients choose this place for their sessions. Then I get to go get some yummy macarons from Chantal Guillon afterwards. Hehehe :)
Depending on when you come here, there are more flowers than other times throughout the year; just like any other gardens. The gazebo is the main attraction of this place. Then the bunny bush is whimsical.
Easy parking in their parking lot or on streets.