What started in the backyard of a Lakeland , Florida home in 2004 has blossom into a thriving e - DoC stage business that rival major plant life sellers . Just in time for its 20 - year day of remembrance , Wellspring Gardens fulfilled its 500,000th on-line monastic order this June .
The party has experienced unprecedented ontogeny since 2020 , and is projecting it will fill one million orders , doubling its record , in the next five years .
Donovan K. Baltich started the business after being repose off in 2003 . He studied horticulture at Florida Southern College and had always planned on opening a plant life storage , though he imagined it looking quite other than .
" As long as I can remember , I wanted to spread a brick and mortar plant store , " he allege . " But with the rise of e - commercialism and changing circumstances , new opportunities presented themselves , so we jumped in with both foot . "
Baltich and his wife , Dana , execute the troupe through ups and Down in the market — all from their back porch . contumaciously avoiding debt and possession dilution meant they would stay on put to work in their backyard until 2019 when they gain a consecrate fulfilment center .
When the metier unrecorded plant market boom in 2020 , the company defend its ground amidst legion competitors entering the space . " We saw a revitalization of stake in self sufficiency , " Baltich say . " Customers have portion out images of the food wood they ’ve grown from our babe plants and it ’s really amazing how a family can transmute their yard in just a couple years . "
Cheyenne Parsons , of Ocala Florida , is a loyal Wellspring Gardens customer who understands the benefits of growing your own food beyond cost rescue . " I want to ensure my family has healthier and fresher food available , and by farm my own garden I get to pick out what go into my yard and my dirt , " Parsons said . " Our garden is full of yield thanks to Wellspring Gardens . One of our favorite purchases was a Dwarf Everbearing black-market mulberry tree tree diagram that produces so much that we ’re able-bodied to make preserves , pies , sauces , kombucha , frozen berries and so much more . "
Of the plants Wellspring Gardens offers , most of them are tropical and many of them are edible . staple include familiar names like Orange Bird of Paradise and Ice Cream ( Blue Java ) banana tree and rarer varieties include Mexican Pepperleaf and Edgar ’s Baby dragon yield .
All plant are sold as starter plants in 5 - ounce pots and value just 3–8 inches tall . The caller dearly mention to them as " baby plants . " Though some customers try out fully grown , mature plants , Wellspring Gardens has constitute that its customers in reality prefer receive small plants because they make a connective as they put forward them to maturity .
Today the Baltich children — Kirsten Maghraoui and Donovan C. Baltich — manage the occupation , which engage 12 associates . The fellowship accredit its success to a commitment to staying lean . " It ’s not common to have company founders working in the business 15 years in , but they require to outride lean , " Donovan C. Baltich said . " Since 2020 , we ’ve systemized our fulfillment operations and growing practices to enable fewer people to attain more . "
What ’s next for the 20 - class companionship : An innovational " plantscription " in which customers receive three new plants each quarter for a bland price . " We succeed the philosophy of ABL : Always Be Launching , " Donovan C. Baltich said . " There are already plant subscriptions out there , but we ’ve discover room to innovate in that space . We would like to redefine the category . "
The largely internet - found fellowship previously enter in various curb markets in the Lakeland area in its early days . For the first time in many geezerhood , it design to revive its strong-arm presence with pour down - up workshop at various positioning let in the Lakeland Downtown Farmers Curb Market starting in September 2024 .
For more information : Wellspring Gardenwellspringgardens.com
