Encinitas: Our History and People

WEIDNERS
GARDENS/
THE EVELYN
WEIDNER
FAMILY
Weidners Gardens on Normandy Road in
Leucadia has been brightening the Encinitas
landscape since 1973. Weidner, pronounced
WIDE-ner, as Evelyn says, “there are no weeds
in Weidner,” and you won’t find any at Weidners
Gardens either.
For Evelyn Weidner, gardening has been a
lifetime avocation. She was literally born into
the nursery business. Her parents always had a
nursery—first in Three Rivers and then in North
Long Beach, California.
“I’ve always loved the business,” said Evelyn.
“After school, I would head over to the nursery
to work. I would help customers and being an
attractive 16-year-old girl, they loved me.”
She married Bob Weidner, who owned a
wholesale foliage plant business. They eventually
came to Encinitas at the recommendation of Paul
Ecke Sr. and Paul Ecke Jr.
“They said, ‘you’ve got to come down here.
Where else would you go?” said Evelyn.
Following that advice, they bought the land
where Weidners Gardens currently stands.
“My husband knew that I loved begonias,”
said Evelyn. “He came home one day and asked
me if I’d like a big patch of begonias.”
That patch was 25,000 plants because he
wanted it to be a flower show.
Now that flower show has grown to include
thousands of fuchsias, succulents and poinsettias,
including the famous Ecke Poinsettias. The annual
“Behind the Scenes Poinsettia Tours” attract
hundreds of visitors.
Bob Weidner passed away in 1988 and Evelyn
and daughter Mary ran the nursery until selling
the business in 2014. It is now in the capable
hands of production grower, Oliver Storm, and
wholesale sales manager, Kalim Owen. Now
semi-retired, Evelyn still writes the nursery
newsletter and can often be found greeting
customers and giving out gardening advice.
“Wherever we go, it seems we run into people
who are customers of ours,” said Evelyn. “They
are still coming to Weidners for great plants and
good gardening advice. It’s good to know we are
still helping to make their gardens a success.”
Since then, in her semi-retirement Evelyn
continues to stay a very active member of the
Encinitas community. She has written a gardening
column in the Encinitas Advocate and Coast
Newspapers for years, as well as being a board
member of the Heritage Ranch Museum and an
active member of the Encinitas Rotary Club.
G
Weidners Gardens in Encinitas.
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