Our family's roots in the plant business go back another generation, when Shane's grandfather operated The Backyard garden center nearby in Winter Park. The family eventually began using the property on Gabriella Lane to grow and hold plants for Grandpa's garden center — the same property we still grow on today.

Shane's dad, Grant, built the wholesale foliage nursery on Gabriella Lane. For decades, we grew plants for other nurseries and garden centers — plants left these greenhouses by the truckload, long before we ever shipped one in a box.

In 2017, Shane took over the day-to-day operation of the family's wholesale nursery. Then, in August 2018, Shane tried something completely new: selling plants directly online. It started with just 10 Pink Princess Philodendrons listed on Etsy. Those ten plants helped change the direction of the entire nursery. Weekly Wednesday restocks followed, and Gabriella Plants began growing into what it is today.

What started with 10 plants grew quickly. We launched a website and began selling more of the plants we grew. Pink Princess waitlists reached tens of thousands of people, Wednesday releases sold out in minutes, and our little online experiment became the future of the nursery. In 2021, Shane officially purchased the family business from his dad.

In 2021, we opened the Gabriella Plants Shop less than two miles from the greenhouses. For five years, it gave us a place to meet our local community face-to-face. In 2026, we closed the Shop and brought our local events back home — to the greenhouses where the plants actually grow.

GP Locals is our way of staying connected with our Central Florida community through Second Saturdays, special events, and whatever else we dream up next. The fourth generation is already growing up around these greenhouses — and we're still Always Growing More®.