Self-Guided Tree Walk: Elizabeth F. Gamble Garden

Tree Selection by Merrill Jensen, Gamble Director of Horticulture and Jana Dilley, Canopy Program Director
Additional information from the Sunset Western Garden Book.

Download this Tree Walk (PDF Version)

THE ELIZABETH F. GAMBLE GARDEN TREE WALK BEGINS AT THE CARRIAGE HOUSE AT 1431 WAVERLEY STREET, PALO ALTO.

1. Paperbark maple (Acer griseum)
This tree is best distinguished by its reddish, peeling, paper-like bark. Foliage is a brilliant red in the fall.

2. Weeping cherry (Prunus subhirtella) ‘Pendula’
These trees form an allee. In the spring, these trees are covered with small pale pink flowers.

3. Victorian box (Pittosporum undulatum)
This tree suffered from the freeze in 1991
and is still making its comeback. It has creamy white, fragrant flowers in the spring.

4. Red oak (Quercus coccinea)
The leaves of the red oak turn brown and die in the winter but remain on branches until spring when new leaves emerge. Common street tree in Palo Alto.

5. Toyon (Heteromeles arbutifolia)
Native to the foothills, toyon is normally a shrub, but this one has been pruned into single-trunked tree form. Birds love the berries. Tolerates drought but looks better if watered.

6. Lawson cypress or Port Orford cedar (Chamaecyparis lawsoniana)
Known for its straight grain and ruler-straight trunk, this tree is prized for making arrow shafts and shingles.

7. Dove tree (Davidia involucrata)
Native to China. The blooms in the spring look like white doves resting among green leaves or handkerchiefs drying on branches. It takes 10 years to come into flower—this tree is not flowering yet. It also has brown fruit the size of golf balls.

8. Michelia (Michelia doltsopa)
A magnolia relative that is native to the Himalayas. Furry brown buds appear in thewinter, which open to creamy white blossoms 5 to 7 inches across. Flowers appear among the leaves, rather than singly at branch ends like magnolias.

9. Japanese maples (Acer palmatum ‘Moonfire’, ‘Hogyoku’, ‘Virdis’, ‘Tamehime’, ‘Seiryu’, ‘Inaba shidare’ and ‘Aureum’)
This bed provides a glimpse of the great variety of Japanese maples. Note the variety in size, leaf color and leaf shape. Look for the markers in the bed to tell you which tree is which.

10. Chinese fringe tree (Chionanthus retusus)
This tree requires some winter chill in order to produce flowers in late spring. The male and female plants are separate—male plants have larger flowers. If both are present, the female produces small, dark olive-like fruit that attracts birds.

11. Magnolia x ‘Star Wars’
This tree has pink flowers 11 inches across and blooms for 1 to 2 months in early spring before leaves appear.

12. Variegated Privet (Ligustrum lucidum 'Tricolor')
This tree has large, feathery clusters of flowers in the late spring and early summer, followed by a profuse crop of fruit. It is often considered an undesirable tree because of the smelly flowers and messy fruit.

13. Lions mane maple (Acer palmatum ‘Shishigishira’)
Another beautiful Japanese maple.

14. Evergreen dogwood (Cornus capitalta)
Even though it’s called the Evergreen dogwood, this tree may lose all of its leaves in a cold winter, half of its leaves in a mild winter. Some turn red or purplish in the fall. Trees flower after they are 8 to 10 years old. They also bear strawberry-like fruit in the fall that can create a litter problem.

15. Saucer magnolia (Magnolia soulangeana)
A deciduous magnolia with white to purplish red fragrant flowers, 3 to 6 inches wide. This tree blooms from late winter into spring, before the leaves emerge.

16. Star magnolia (Magnolia stellata)
Another deciduous magnolia that also blooms before the leaves come out. These flowers are white and 3 inches across with narrow, strap-shaped petals. This particular tree has some very interesting branch patterns.

17. Oriental Persimmon (Diospyros kaki ‘Hachiya’)
This tree produces big, slightly pointed fruit that is quite astringent until it becomes very soft and ripe. The fruit can be pureed and used as a replacement for applesauce in bread and other recipes.

18. Coral Tree (Erythrina crista-galli)
This tree is known for its extravagant display of flowers. The first flowers form in the spring after the leaves have unfurled. Each branch tip has a big, loose, spike-like cluster of velvety, birdlike blossoms that vary in color from pink to dark red.

19. Black Mission Fig (Ficus carica)
A common fruit tree in the Bay Area. Fig trees can grow 15 to 30 feet tall, but can also be kept to 10 feet in a large container. The Black Mission variety produces purple-black fruit with pink flesh that is good either fresh or dried.

20. Asian Pear (Pyrus pyrifolia culta ‘Hosui)’
The fruit of the Asian pear is round, unlike the European pears. The fruit is sometimes called an apple pear because of its shape and crisp texture, but this tree is not an apple hybrid.

21. Dawn Redwood (Metasequoia glyptostroboides)
Thought to be extinct for many years until rediscovered in the 1940’s. Needles turn brown and drop in the winter, unlike the coast redwood, which keeps it needles year-round.

22. Smoke tree (Cotinus coggygria)
Naturally multi-stemmed; can be trained to a single trunk. Name is derived from dramatic puffs of “smoke” from fading flowers. At their best in poor or rocky soils—avoid overly wet conditions. Resistant to oak root fungus.

23. Snakebark maple (Acer capillipes)
Native to Japan, this tree is best recognized by its unique bark. Young branches are red, and with age they turn a brownish green with white stripes.