I Knew Nothing About Plants. Now It’s My Business
Share
How Elusive Plants Came to Exist
In 2020, during the peak of Covid, I was working at Woolworths.
We were considered “essential,” which meant showing up every day while no one really knew what was going on or how bad things could get. It was a weird time. Stressful, uncertain, and honestly a bit surreal.
I didn’t get into plants because I had some deep passion for them.
I got into plants because I put up some shelves in my room and thought it would look cool to have a cascade of green trailing down the wall.
That was it.
On the 6th of September 2020, I bought my first six plants:
- Ctenanthe Setosa
- Croton
- Peperomia Emerald Ripple
- Spider Plant
- Anthurium
- Begonia Kotobuki
Three of them are still alive. Three aren’t.
At that point, I knew absolutely nothing about plants. No interest, no experience, no clue what I was doing.
But something changed pretty quickly.
The Moment It Became an Obsession
The turning point wasn’t buying plants.
It was learning about propagation.
The idea that you could cut a plant, grow it again, and essentially keep it going forever completely flipped a switch in my brain. That was the moment it stopped being decoration and started becoming something I was genuinely interested in.
From there, it spiraled. I grew up with Pokémon, I was conditioned from a very young age to "catch 'em all" or in this case, buy them all. I've had a very addictive personality my entire life, so plants were definitely not an exception to that.
I spent thousands of hours watching YouTube videos, reading, experimenting, and figuring things out through trial and error. Like most people, I struggled early with overwatering and getting lighting right.
But I didn’t kill as many plants as you’d expect because I went deep on learning fast.
And there’s something that still hasn’t changed since those early days.
Seeing a new leaf come through on a plant you’ve grown yourself, or watching roots form in water while propagating, never gets old. It still feels a bit magic every time.
From Hobby to “Wait… This Could Be Something”
At the time, plants were expensive.
There were actual “collector” plants. The kind of plants only a small group of people were willing to spend serious money on. I was one of them.
But as tissue culture became more common, that whole space changed. Plants that were rare and expensive would suddenly become cheap within months. It took a lot of the thrill out of collecting.
But by then, I was already deep into propagation.
Eventually, I ended up with way too many plants. Same varieties, multiplying faster than I needed.
So I listed a few on Facebook Marketplace.
That was the start.
From there, it moved to Instagram sales, and eventually into building a proper website.
The first plant I ever sold was a Syngonium, most likely a Pink Splash, for $20.
That $20 was the moment everything shifted.
It wasn’t about the money. It was the realisation that this could actually be something more than just a hobby.
Building Elusive Plants From Scratch
I built the website myself from the ground up.
No experience. No background in web design. No idea what I was doing.
Every single step was a challenge.
Before the website, I was selling plants off my bedroom floor. Then it became a small greenhouse outside. Slowly, it started to look like an actual business.
Originally, the business was called The Limited Leaf.
That didn’t last long due to licensing issues, but in hindsight, that was a good thing. The name Elusive Plants fits much better. The original idea was to focus on more uncommon plants, the ones people struggle to find.
That’s where the name came from.
Like any business, there were plenty of mistakes.
One of the biggest was sending plants in pots. It sounds simple, but it made shipping far more expensive than it needed to be. Fixing that made a huge difference.
Even something like product photos was a learning curve. Getting clean images, removing backgrounds, making the site look professional. None of it came naturally at the start.
It was all learned.
Expanding Beyond Just Plants
When the website launched in December 2023, I made a decision that most people wouldn’t expect.
I didn’t launch with plants.
Because it was so close to Christmas, I didn’t want to risk shipping delays or plants sitting in transit too long.
So the store launched with indoor plant themed stationery.
That came from a different part of my brain. I enjoy creating things, and this was an outlet for that.
From there:
Not because it was part of some master plan, but because I wanted to build more around the brand and create additional income streams.
Over time, I realised something important.
If plants alone weren’t going to provide consistent income, I needed to diversify.
Some things worked better than others. Print on demand apparel, for example, had almost no profit. So I shifted to doing it by hand myself. Still not much profit but cutting out the middle man was more feedable.
Stationery is slowly being phased out. The demand just isn’t there like it used to be.
But each step helped shape what Elusive Plants is now.
What Elusive Plants Looks Like Today
Today, Elusive Plants is still run completely solo.
From a few listings to hundreds. From a handful of plants to thousands shipped across Australia.
Everything has been built from scratch.
No formal education. No business background. Just learning by doing.
That’s the part I’m most proud of.
But the reality is, it’s not easy.
The hardest part is the financial side. Not having a consistent, reliable income adds a level of stress that most people don’t see.
And there have been moments where I’ve seriously questioned whether to keep going.
The Reality of Running This Alone
Running a business solo means there’s no off switch.
Messages come in at all hours. Problems land on you with no one to pass them to.
I left a stable job to do this full time because I knew that if I didn’t give it a real shot, I’d regret it.
But that decision comes with pressure.
The toughest period so far was between December 2025 and March 2026.
Two difficult customers pushed things to a point where it genuinely affected my mental health. When you work for yourself, there’s no manager to step in. It’s all on you.
That’s something people don’t talk about enough.
What I Believe Most Plant Shops Get Wrong
A lot of plant shops rely too heavily on physical stores.
In my opinion, that model doesn’t make sense anymore, especially for plants.
Online is where the opportunity is.
But more importantly, most businesses don’t show the person behind the brand.
There’s no face. No connection.
That’s a mistake.
People don’t just want to buy a plant. They want to know who they’re buying from. They want to support a person, not just a name.
That’s why I focus heavily on content and being reachable.
If someone messages me, I reply. I help where I can.
That’s part of what makes Elusive Plants different.
Who Elusive Plants Is For
It’s for everyone.
If you’re just starting out and have no idea what you’re doing, you’re welcome here.
If you’re chasing the more uncommon, collector-style plants, you’re welcome too.
But it’s not for people who don’t want responsibility.
Plants aren’t decorations you can ignore. They need care. Attention. Effort.
If you’re not willing to give that, plants probably aren’t for you.
Why This Matters
This isn’t just a business to me.
I come from a background where not many people go on to build something of their own.
I want to change that.
I want to build something real. Something that creates financial stability and opens doors that weren’t there before.
Success, to me, is simple.
Being able to go out and buy a meal without checking my bank account first.
That’s the goal.
What’s Next
There’s a lot more ahead for Elusive Plants.
New ideas. New directions. Things I’m working on behind the scenes that I’m excited about.
I won’t say too much yet.
But this is just the beginning.
Final Note
If you’ve supported Elusive Plants at any point, even just by following along, I appreciate it more than you probably realise.
This whole thing started with six plants on a shelf.
And it’s grown into something I’m still building every single day.