Gabriel Regnard was born on 19 October 1863 in Port Louis, Mauritius.
Regnard was a keen horticulturist and arborist who established the Domaine Val Ory in Moka where he added to the natural beauty of the area by creating a successful acclimatization garden with rare species.
Gabriel Regnard is especially known for the introduction of fruit trees and palm trees such as the Carludovica palmata, the Vanillier de Cayenne Duranta plumieri, the Brazilian Goyava Feijoa sellowiana and the Senegal date palm Phenix reclinata.
Gabriel Regnard is also remembered to have introduced the Guttoral toad Sclerophrys gutturalis from South Africa in 1922 as a biocontrol for the cane Beetle that was infesting the sugar cane plantations. The same Guttoral toad species was taken from Mauritius and introduced to Réunion island as a biocontrol for malaria spreading mosquitoes.
Gabriel Regnard served as vice-president of the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Mauritius.
Following his death in 1932, his son Ferdinand Regnard took over ownership of the Val Ory residence and the lovely garden his father had created.