The poinsettias stay! Family land deal secures future of Orban’s Nursery in Bradenton
For several years, developers had been circling Orban’s Nursery, hoping to buy the iconic west Bradenton property to put up more new rooftops.
But this week, the Orban family announced that 30-year-old Tyler Orban, who already runs the business, had bought the property. The deal ensures that the show will go on for one of the Bradenton area’s most colorful traditions, the poinsettia open house that kicks off the holiday season the Saturday after Thanksgiving.
“I am just thrilled about it. The whole family wanted to see Tyler take the ball and run with it. It’s been a stressful six or seven years,” Tyler’s sister, Whitney Bradberry, said Thursday.
Tyler is the fourth generation of the family to run the 107-year-old business, which was founded in Medina, Ohio, but has been in Manatee County for more than 60 years.
When Tyler’s grandfather, Bill Orban, a World War II B-24 bomber pilot, died at age 93 in 2016, the business, but not the land, passed to Bill’s son, Marty Orban. The land was put up for sale, under Bill Orban’s trust, leaving family members wondering when and if the land might be sold from under them.
“Honestly, I expected that it would happen, that it would be sold,” Tyler Orban said Thursday. “Several developers were trying to buy it and had put in offers.”
But an aunt in charge of Bill Orban’s trust accepted Tyler’s offer instead, relieving much of the stress that the family had been feeling.
Tyler Orban is now the owner of the 22 acres at 9601 9th Ave. NW, all of the property that remained after he sold his grandfather’s house and five acres. Bill Orban’s homestead will remain as a single-family home site. Tyler inherited the business in 2019, when his father, Marty Orban, died at 66 from cancer.
“We’re on our second week of propagating poinsettias,” Tyler Orban said. “We have about one-fifth of the poinsettias planted. Next week is a real big planting week for us. It’s nice to be able to focus on that and not everything else that was going on with the sale.”
Orban’s poinsettias arrive as unrooted cuttings, primarily from Central America, but also from Ethiopia, and are placed into pots, where they achieve their full growth and beauty.
Last year, Orban’s Nursery produced 194,000 poinsettias. Publix is Orban’s biggest single customer, and the supermarket sells the poinsettias at its stores in Florida and around the Southeast.
Another challenge was bankruptcy brought on by the cancellation of $100,000 worth of pre-sold poinsettia orders because of the Great Recession. Orban’s came out of bankruptcy in 2010.
What the future holds for Orban’s is an expansion of the on-site retail stand, which opened in the winter of 2020. Before that, the nursery was wholesale-only and not open to the public except for the holiday open house. The retail operation will be expanded to include landscaping supplies, including plants, trees, shrubs, soil and materials. The retail stand is open 9 a.m. - 3 .m. Monday through Saturday.
In addition to the poinsettias, which are sold to Publix, other garden centers, churches and fundraisers, Orban’s grows annuals, perennials, and succulents.
“The last few years have been challenging for our family and the nursery, both with the loss of my dad and grandfather,” Tyler Orban said. “Not knowing if the property would sell made it tough to plan for the future. It’s an honor for me to carry the nursery forward for both the community and my family.”
For more information
Annual poinsettia open house: 9 a.m.-3 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 27.
Orban’s Nursery: Go to www.orbans.com.
This story was originally published July 29, 2021 at 2:29 PM.
