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Saturday, May 23, 2026


Nuccio Nursery to Close After 91 Years

By Mandy Tzoc Rodriguez

After 91 years, Altadena’s very own Nuccio Nursery, an iconic nursery with rare varieties of Camellia 
plants, will be shutting its doors soon. Although there is no definitive closing date, Jim Nuccio, 76, preps 
for a bittersweet end of a chapter in early June.

“I will miss the customers coming in and kind of appreciating what we do, I’m definitely going to miss 
that,” Nuccio says bittersweetly.

Nuccio’s Nursery primarily grows Camellia’s and began with Julius Nuccio, Jim’s father, finding interest in 
the plants at age 11. Eventually, he began to grow them in 1935 in the backyard of his mother’s Alhambra 
home alongside his brother, Joe. In 1946, the nursery began when their father purchased the 38 acre land 
in Altadena. Currently, the land is 78 acres wide. The family grew Camellias, Azaleas, Junipers and more, 
eventually focusing on Camellia’s and Azaleas. Julius Nuccio also developed new varieties of Camellias 
which are widely recognized by plant hobbyists.

Jim Nuccio originally began working at the nursery during high school and college in the summertime. 
Soon after college, he was drafted and stationed in San Francisco. During his time in the army, he ran 
for their track and field team splitting his time from the base in San Francisco to the San Pedro base. He 
later received his real estate license and worked for the Bank of Marin County. After being in the Bay 
Area with his wife, they decided to return back down to SoCal. Between 1980-1981, Nuccio returned to 
the nursery, working full time. 

“[I] kept thinking more and more about the family business and, you know, it’s maybe time to get down 
here,” says Nuccio.

Nuccio’s Nursery was already in the process of shutting its doors prior to the Eaton Fire; the family 
was looking at selling the land and as there was no one else to take over the business. They had 
an offer with the Pasadena Polytechnic School (located by Caltech) to utilize the bottom 13 acres 
for athletic fields. However, due to neighbor concerns and the distance of transporting students 
to the fields, the offer fell through the fall before the Eaton Fire. After the offer fell, Nuccio was 
thinking they’ll still be open for a while longer, so the nursery continued production while scaling 
the workload down.

“Then the fire hit and it was a lot of uncertainty. I mean it was just a mess, we had no water for two 
and a half weeks…suddenly things are going smoothly and aren’t going smoothly anymore,” shares 
Nuccio.

The Eaton Fire impacted the nursery significantly, losing around 150,000 propagated plants and 
15,000 saleable plants. They lost all their equipment; four carts, two tractors, two spray machines 
and two fertilizer machines. In the wake of the fire, customers and other nursery owners reached out 
wanting to transport the remaining flowers and water them for Nuccio as he awaited the return of 
water in the area. Eventually, the nursery were able to get water with the help from their customers 
and friends. 

“As you know, you can’t always go out on your own terms…after 91 years of business, everything 
kind of slammed shut. The day of the fire could’ve ended everything abruptly, we’re very lucky.”

They reopened in February and the nursery was busy with the community and their customers 
wanting to support as this could be the last chance. Some traveled as far from the Bay Area and 
San Diego to support and purchase the unique Camellia’s. Prior to the fire, the nursery wanted to 
donate their rare Camellia collection to the Huntington Library, the Getty Museum and Descanso 
Gardens. In the aftermath of the fire, they were able to donate over 100 plants and can be viewed at 
those locations.

“I’m going to miss the cycle of production here…I’m kind of going to miss the agricultural aspect, the farmer aspect. Seeing your crop grow, seeing your crop grow from something that’s been 
eh to something that you can really sell that you’re proud of,” shares Nuccio as he sits by the longstanding onsite office building.

As the nursery comes to a close, a new chapter begins with Nuccio. He hopes to start vacationing with his wife, eventually getting to travel to Europe, and donating time to Huntington Library 
and Descanso Gardens. The nursery is still open to the public to visit before it closes, please call ahead of time at (626) 794-3383 and view any remaining plants while saying ‘Hello.’


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