Durling Nursery – Four Generations Durling Nursery, Inc. is a fourth generation nursery established in 1926. It has 68 employees, and many have been employed by the company for over 20 years. A wholesale grower of citrus, avocado and fruit trees, many of their trees have been shipped internationally. Customers include movie stars and world leaders, as well as retail shoppers at Home Depot, Lowe’s and other stores. The Martha Stewart Show featured Durling Nursery citrus trees on one of the television segments. The business was founded by Clarence Durling. Durling was the superintendent at the Rancho Santa Fe Orchard Development in the mid-1920s. One of his responsibilities was to locate avocado trees for new orchards. He had difficulty finding trees, so he started his own avocado nursery in 1926. The Depression of 1929 put an end to that location, and the nursery relocated to Pico Rivera. After World War II, Clar-
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ence asked his son Robert to join the business. In the late 1940s, the nursery moved to Orange County. In the sixties, the nursery need to expand so they found some land in the Morro Hills area of Fallbrook. Robert then invited his son, Don, to join him in the business after Don had attended Cal Poly State College (now University). Don retired in 2009. The nursery again relocated, this time to 175 acres in the DeLuz area of Fallbrook, where it remains. Robert’s daughters, Carol Elder and Christy Westerhold, managed the office, before Christy retired in 2009. Even in his nineties, Robert continued to work at the nursery, and passed away in 2013 at the age of 94. Durling Nursery continues to be run by Robert’s daughter, Carol, who is CEO and her husband Wayne Elder, who is nursery manager. Their son, Craig, is operations manager, and Craig’s wife Wendy is office manager.
Durling Nursery is a 4th generation business. Callie Elder, 5th generation, at age two in 2010, stands by one of the citrus trees awaiting her turn at the helm. Courtesy photo [Opposite page] The Grand Tradition, a 3rd generation business of the McDougal family, is a stunning venue for weddings and other special occasions, and also offers a first class restaurant – The Veranda. Acqua Photography photo
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