A Conversation with Gina Houska

When Gina Houska was a kid, she knew she not only wanted to be a mom but also an entrepreneur.
Fast forward to 2021, and this mom of 2 has started her entrepreneurial adventure by hitting the road with The Plant Truck. It’s quite possibly the coolest, most unique thing I’ve ever seen in the retail nursery industry and one of those ideas where you kick yourself for not coming up with it yourself!

“It used to be an old Pella window truck. I gutted it myself,” says Gina. “Sent it off to the metal shop, told them I wanted the biggest window possible. They did not disappoint. Then it went to the carpenter to get the inside refinished. I told him my vision of the carnival game with balloons and darts, and he got it done. The truck is still a work in progress trying to figure out what works the fastest and most efficient, especially during travel.”

And travel it does. The Plant Truck debuted earlier this fall and hit local farmers’ markets, block parties, and events like Arnold Days.

Gina holds a horticulture certificate from St. Louis Community College and is a certified ISA (International Society of Arboriculture) arborist. The plants she sells in The Plant Truck are typically tropicals and seasonal greenhouse plants.

What about when things cool off in St. Louis? “I don’t plan on stopping,” Gina says. “I’m hoping to switch things up with season change, adding poinsettias and wreaths & hoping to get small Alberta spruces or Norfolk pines and making them like Christmas trees! The truck is insulated so if need be, I can throw a heater in there or move the plants to my garage that I’ve cleared out. I just recently bought a Bluetooth temperature gauge that I will be able to check the truck temp from my phone.”

Gina also works for a local nursery but says her real job is home with Miles (6) and Marcella (2). “The other two jobs come second. Balancing it all is just borderline crazy.”
Her favorite part of the job is seeing the kids come on the truck. “I can just tell they have the ‘plant bug’. Some people have it, and some people just don’t. The kids come on the truck asking their parents for a plant and have a hard time choosing because they’re just so busy looking around in amazement. I really get a kick out of it.”

Gina initially thought about starting up a plant truck while visiting a food truck venue. “I noticed a women’s boutique that I was very uninterested in. I thought to myself, “what if she had plants?” I’d be over there, no questions asked. Then I thought more and more about it and realized nobody was doing that (mobile plant boutique). I figured a truck couldn’t be that expensive, and I got a wild hair one night and looked for a truck on Facebook marketplace. Now I own a plant truck and couldn’t be happier.”

QUICK FACTS:
–Best garden she’s ever visited-Airlie Gardens in Wilmington, North Carolina. “They have a 400-year-old live oak that is breathtaking.”
–If you were stranded on a deserted island and could only have ONE plant to keep you company, what would it be? It doesn’t have to be a food-bearing plant since this island has a free buffet!
Sycamore. It’s one of my favorite trees. I love the white bark. And it’s a fast grower, so I could see myself deserted, propagating trees, and making furniture or something out of them.”
–Favorite gardening tool? Hands down soil knife. Most used tool would be my Felco pruners.
-If you could have lunch with any other plant geek, dead or living, who would it be? I guess it would have to be the man himself, Michael Dirr. (Author of Manual of Woody Landscape Plants.) I probably wouldn’t even be able to carry on a conversation with his greatness.

Check out The Plant Truck on facebook or Instagram

https://www.facebook.com/theplanttruckllc

The Plant Truck (@theplanttruckllc) • Instagram photos and videos

inquires:GinaHouska@theplanttruckllc.com 314-651-7186

Words by Jo Batzer, photos provided by Gina Houska

© Jo Batzer, garden-lou.com, All rights reserved.