Cultivate joy this spring with the help of plant care expert Taylor Robison
PARRISH— Rubbernecking or quick U-turns are not uncommon as customers get their first glimpse of Polly, a vintage horse trailer turned aesthetic mobile plant bar, and home of Pilea Plants & Things.
Bradenton native Taylor Robison owns an innovative plant shop that has quickly grown from an online plant store into a mobile plant shop and bar. The mobile shop offers everything from mini customizable succulents to private plant care workshops, all from the revamped (and gorgeous) plant bar she named Polly.
A quick-thinking and multi-talented millennial, Robison, 31, launched Pilea during the downtime of the COVID pandemic in 2020. She and her husband Maureik welcomed their daughter Bradley shortly after Robison began diving deeper into the houseplant world; she soon found her interest in plants was more than just for fun.
“It was just a hobby then,” Robison said. “It was just something that made me feel good and I was connected to the social media plant community, which was great during that time … Having that online community of like-minded plant people was nice.”
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As time passed, Robison’s natural interest and family roots in horticulture and botany emerged.
Feeling the urge to stay home with the couple's toddler, Robison melded her plant aptitude with her skills as a marketing professional to reach more plant lovers online by sharing not only her knowledge of plant care and gardening but her plants, too.
“I started experimenting more with propagation and I started a pass-it-on propagation community … I had so many plants that I ended up giving a lot of them away. I didn’t realize it then but that was kind of the infancy stage of what I have now,” she said.
Online plant store becomes Pilea Plants & Things
Originally an online plant store that shipped houseplants and accessories, Pilea Plants & Things bloomed into a mobile plant shop and bar in May 2022.
The company is named after a popular houseplant known as the friendship plant, Pilea (Pilea peperomioides).
A year after her daughter's birth, Robison came across a vintage horse trailer on a Facebook marketplace group, purchased, restored and named it. Customers can find Polly at various weekly outdoor markets, popular coffee shops, and community events anywhere from St. Petersburg to Sarasota.
Robison's showstopping anchor is a plant enthusiast's one-stop shop. True to her roots in community and sustainability, Robison sources Pilea's plants from nurseries and farms in Manatee, Pinellas, and Sarasota counties. Through her social media savvy, Robision's once-digital plant hobby has quickly grown in popularity with local plant lovers.
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Her expertise and fun approach to plant care make creating a succulent garden, styling a home or office with plants, or maintaining green spaces easy and more attainable.
“I think that Pilea gives people an opportunity to bond with the plants they get here before they take it home. That builds confidence. I don’t buy into the ‘black thumb’ theory," Robinson said, referring to a label for someone who can't grow plants. "There really is a plant for everyone.”
When it comes to the boom of plant enthusiasts since the pandemic shuttered people indoors, Robison said she feels excited about the joy that plant care brings and the diversity of plants, and people, that the plant community has unlocked.
Pilea’s Polly plant trailer is available for rent for classes, workshops, weddings, baby showers, ladies' nights, and other special events. Visit the Pilea website for a schedule of where to find the mobile plant bar around Sarasota-Manatee.
Samantha Gholar covers news for the Herald-Tribune and USA TODAY Network. Connect with her at sgholar@gannett.com or on Twitter: @samanthagholar.
This article originally appeared on Sarasota Herald-Tribune: Pilea Plants & Things is a must visit for local plant enthusiasts
