The Plant Runner Story

The Plant Runner started in Melbourne with two horticulturalist mates, Dunc and Dom, and a 1963 International Harvester horse float that looked like it would make a decent plant shop. It did. We spent a few years towing it to markets around the city, selling indoor plants and answering the same questions over and over: why is this one yellow, how often do I water it, what have I done wrong.

Somewhere in there it became obvious that the answers mattered more than the plants. Most of the problems people brought us had been diagnosed backwards — treating the leaves when the trouble was in the pot, feeding a plant that was drowning. And when feeding was the answer, the only thing on the shelf was a big plastic bottle built for the vegie patch, with dilution rates written for a nine-litre watering can. Nobody with six plants in a flat owns a nine-litre watering can.

So we stopped selling plants and made the thing we'd always wanted to hand people: fertiliser made for indoor plants, at the right strength, in a bottle small enough to keep on the shelf and good-looking enough that you'd want to. Almost as good as the plants it was feeding. Then we wrote down the way we actually work through a sick plant. That became the Plant Runner Method: light, water, mix, then feed — in that order, because feeding is the last thing to check, not the first. It's free, it lives on this site, and it comes before any product we'd sell you.

Dom's since moved on. Jimi came on board to run the numbers, and the range has grown to potting mixes, neem oil and a small set of accessories — made in Australia, sold through our website and independent stockists here and overseas. The questions haven't stopped, which suits us fine.

Love your plants back is still the whole idea.

Meet the Team

Dunc

Meet Dunc, the co-founder and resident plant-whisperer of The Plant Runner. He's the guy who'll happily chat your ear off about what's growing on your windowsill and why your fiddle-leaf fig might be throwing a tantrum. With a background in horticulture, Dunc's green thumb has worked its magic across community, residential and corporate spaces before he stumbled into the wild world of e-commerce.

It started with a trip to New York, where Dunc fell in love with a pop-up plant installation that brought lush greenery to the heart of the concrete jungle. That spark led to a vintage truck turned mobile plant shop, and now to The Plant Runner as it is today. He's all about spreading plant joy, one bottle of fertiliser and chat at a time.

Jimi

Then there's Jimi, the numbers and strategy guy at The Plant Runner. Jimi knows that every great horticulturist needs someone in the background keeping operations and finance humming — and that's where he shines.

Having grown up surrounded by greenery, Jimi's love for nature runs deep. When he's not camping or bushwalking with his family, you'll find him correcting Dunc's dodgy maths or obsessively colour-coding his latest forecasting spreadsheet. He's on a mission to build a business that not only thrives but helps create a greener, leafier planet for his kids to grow up in. Numbers, nature and the occasional dad joke — that's Jimi in a nutshell.

Our Mission

At The Plant Runner, we believe caring for your plants should be as enjoyable as admiring them. That's why we're here: to help you understand what your plants actually need.

Every product we make, every guide we write, every question we answer — the aim is the same:

To make plant care part of everyday life.

Our Values

• We're passionate about quality
  If it wouldn't earn a place on our own shelf, it doesn't go in the range.
• We learn, connect & educate
  Knowledge is only valuable when it's shared.
• We support curiosity
  Good questions lead to good ideas.
• We are intentional
  Everything we put into the world matters. We'd rather do less, well.