Our First Decade!
On 18th June 2013, Australian Plants Online was born.
Since those tiny beginnings, we've grown our range - to over two thousand products. We've expanded our team of staff; and we've increased our production site at the nursery. You can discover how we produce our plants
At the beginning, we were - and we still are - a wholesale nursery.
You can read more about that in our About Us page.
We were growing tubestock plants - what's tubestock? - for landscapers, garden centres, local authorities, revegetation programs and other horticulture professionals.In 2013, we started packing our tubestock plants to send direct by mail, to home gardeners around Australia.
We wanted to give everyone, wherever they lived, the opportunity to grow a wider range of plants - some of which were not available to home gardeners at the time. And to make those plants available in an easy-to-grow size, at easy-to-afford prices.
Phase One
Our first packing facility was a small wooden shed.
About the size of a single car garage, it had an open doorway either end, and no aircon or heating. Pretty rustic!There was enough room to squeeze a barrow of plants inside, between the wooden benches.The benches were always busy with plants and packages, as orders increased - especially at peak times like Easter and Christmas.
It did the job in the early days, as word got out and gardeners found us. Our first orders came in from Brisbane and Cairns and Winton; from Cremorne and Coonamble and Point Frederick; from Berri and Victor Harbour; from Nathalia and Wodonga.
Phase Two
After five years, in 2017, we'd really outgrown the space.
So we installed a new purpose-built packing facility, much bigger and more spacious.This one has insulation, heating and aircon; many more large steel benches for packing; and roller doors to speed up loading and unloading of orders (and keep the weather out!).
It's closer to the main offices, and has its own driveway and a small car park.
It's still in use today; it's where we keep the automatic labelling machine.
In spring 2020 we shipped our one millionth plant.
A milestone to celebrate!As orders continued to increase, so did the area we needed for the essential part of the business - plant growing and plant maintenance.
Areas of the nursery close to the packing facility were hard landscaped, ready to install benches for tubestock plants; and new propagation facilities were built to produce these additional tubestock plants.
This all worked very well for the next few years - until we ran out of space again. You can see from our order collection point that we needed much more room!
Phase Three
So in 2021, our new packing facility was constructed.
And what a facility!Just eight years after our very first orders were sent out, we've grown from a little ol' shed to a really big building!
A huge double height warehouse-sized building, complete with delivery bays and covered loading aprons, conveyor belts, and storage racks to the ceiling; and purpose-built individual packing stations for every member of staff.
Our customer service team works in the first floor offices, close to the action, so they can give accurate instant updates to callers.
All our plants and their benches are now barcoded, so we can keep track of every single pot within the nursery; from the moment it's ready to sell, to the moment it leaves us in the postie van.
And our new stock control software updates the website instantly, so all the inventory online is always up to date.
Phase Four...?
What will the next ten years bring?
We can't predict the future, but we do know we'll already be planning for it - so we are ready to provide you with the plants you want, to grow your perfect garden.Thank you to every single gardener who trusted us from those early days to be their plant supplier.
And thank you to all our staff through the decade - from propagation and plant maintenance, to order picking, packing, and customer service.
We couldn’t have made it this far without you. Here’s to the next ten years of growing!
