In 1825, John Murdoch came from Ireland to a location east of Pittsburgh and established a nursery. His son, James, helped him in the business, traveling some seven times across the Atlantic to purchase seed and stock. Known at this time as Murdoch Nursery, the firm specialized in tropical plants, ferns, and other foliage, while also offering fruit trees and ornamental trees and shrubs. The nursery was also well known for its carnations and the hybrid Murdoch rose.

J.B. and William B. Sr., James’ sons, and Frank Clifford eventually inherited the business. The two Murdoch brothers bought out Clifford’s share of the nursery and later moved to less-urban Canonsburg, Pa., around the turn of the century. The Murdoch’s added a wholesale house in Pittsburgh to the operation prior to World War I, but during the war the floral end of the business languished while the greenhouses were used for vegetable production.

W.B. Jr. bought J.B.’s interest in the ’20s as the nursery became a wholesale/ retail florist. However, the Depression, coal mining, and his father’s death led W.B. Jr. to liquidate the properties and move to Maryland, where, after World War II, he purchased a farm and began a retail florist business, which is still operated by his widow Ruth and his son John and his family.

In the 1950’s, W. B. Murdoch III left his father’s farm and opened a retail shop in Easton, Maryland, and built greenhouses there. These greenhouses are still in use today and serve as the foundation for the current corporation, which has grown up from them, known as Murdoch Gardens.