Arkansas Interior Plant Service History - PLANTation Services Company

In the Beginning...

How great is it to be able to earn your living doing what you love! When Tina Shelby, founder of PLANTation Services, was a teenager, she and her mother, Nita, shared a love for plants. Tina grew that interest into a profession first by working for a plant grower during her high school years, then pursuing a degree in Agriculture, specifically Ornamental Horticulture, at the University of Arkansas, Fayetteville. Tina's dad and entrepreneur at heart, recognized that Tina wasn't getting married right after college so he had Tina's brother, Dr. Gene Shelby fund the first three years of PLANTation Services. Tina worked from a home Gene owned south of Markham. Instead of furniture in her living room, she had tropical plants ready for delivery to her next customer. It truly was a family business from day one.

And then There Were Two...

In November of 1988, Tina married Randy Cooper. Randy received his BBA in Accounting from the University of Louisiana at Monroe and his MBA from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, LA. With his business and finance knowledge, Tina's passion for service and tropical plants, and 9 prior years of experience in running PLANTation Services, the pair was just the right dynamic to drive PLANTation Services to become Arkansas's largest Interior Plantscaper. Randy joined the ranks of PLANTation Services in September of 1989 serving as the primary sales and marketing force and overseer of all financial aspects of the business. As a team, Tina and Randy doubled the size of the business twice over a ten year period from 1990 to 2000. The business is now the premiere interior plant service provider in Arkansas, supplying live and artificial plants and decorative containers to over 450 clients throughout the state of Arkansas. The company has been an Arkansas Business Business of the Year finalist on two occasions. The company is also voted best of its industry year after year by the readers of Arkansas Business.

The Next Step

In 2005, Robin White, a newly graduated horticulturalist from Louisiana Tech University, followed her dream to live in Arkansas and made the move to Little Rock. Six months later, Randy recognized in Robin a strong work ethic and great potential for growth and welcomed her to the PLANTation Services team working on special projects. Robin quickly developed a strong commitment and passion for the industry and took on every challenge that was presented to her. In March of 2007 she began managing the operations of the business leading her "green team" to learn more and more about the highest level of quality customer service. On July 1, 2011 Robin White Connell purchased PLANTation Services. Tina Shelby and Randy Cooper will remain active consultants as they pass the torch. The primary goal that the original owners set sights on was to see PLANTation Services go another 31 years. This transfer of passion from one generation to another was the logical next step. Although Robin is not related to the original owners she remains very close to Tina and Randy and the sense of PLANTation Services as a family business continues.