St. Paul-based Roots, Shoots and Leaves helps customers be ‘best plant parent they can be’

Marc Eaton’s house is filled with plants.

In fact, his family was only recently able to use the dining room table again, he said. That’s just what comes with operating a mobile indoor plant business out of what would otherwise be a food truck.

“He’s always loved plants and animals,” said his husband, David Gray. “He’s the type of person who would go out to the woods and pick up seeds and grow them at home.”

Eaton, who quit his full-time job as an entomologist studying insects earlier this year, makes stops with Gray and their son all across Minnesota selling trendy, pet-friendly and rare plants as Roots, Shoots and Leaves. He even makes house calls and will help growers solve their indoor plant problems, like an infestation of bugs, or failure to grow despite receiving all the water and sun required.

“Since the first time the truck rolled out onto the street, the reaction has been remarkable. There’s so much excitement and enthusiasm, from everyone from little kids all the way up to senior citizens,” Gray said. “When they go inside [the truck,] people get awestruck because they don’t expect it to look the way it does.”

In one three- to four-hour event, the truck can make $500 on a slow weekday, Eaton said. But on most weekends, such as at the St. Paul Farmers Market, the family will make $800 to $1,200. And it doesn’t stop when summer ends, either: The business continues doing public and corporate events through the rest of the year.

Though Eaton had to make some financial sacrifices — he does not make as much as he used to in his full-time job — doing what he loves makes it all worth it.

“I am much happier and much less stressed. Health-wise, I put ten to fifteen thousand more steps on the pedometer daily since I am not sitting at a desk working on a computer all day,” he said. “We discussed if I really wanted to make this grow, I was going to have to do this full time. Now I’m at the point where I’m turning away events because I’m all booked up.”

Eaton’s plants aren’t for sale at a typical plant store. He sources the highly refined assortment from brokers ranging from Minnesota to Florida and California.

His most expensive — and arguably weirdest — plant on hand is Dioscorea elephantipes, also known as elephant foot. It looks like a meteor with leafy shoots growing out of it, and a 17-year-old plant costs $750, and smaller 2-year-old ones are $50.

Eaton’s love of plants started with a Maranta leuconeura, known more commonly as prayer plant, that he received when he was 6 years old from a woman who attended his church. As he watched it grow bigger and greener, he became hooked on plants. His hobby took him to studying biology at the University of Minnesota, and then he became a research scientist at a pesticide company.

“It was during COVID, when he was home for a couple of years, he found a great balance in his day to putter with plants while getting his work done,” Gray said, adding that Eaton had plenty of market research visiting mobile plant shops in other states and researching popular indoor plants.

Eaton’s home filling with plants gave him the idea of spreading the love and helping people be the “best plant parent they can be.”

“Working from home during the pandemic, my interest really spread,” he said. “I started researching more of the exotic things for my own knowledge.”

Eaton knows most people at his farmer’s market booth are looking for beginner-friendly plants, ones that are hard to kill and need little maintenance. For that, Eaton recommended succulents, cacti or pothos.

On one wall of his truck, he has a collection of pet-friendly plants. Toward the back are all the eye-catching plants — like pink princess philodendron, which has big, green leaves with bright pink veins — and an assortment of sensitive plants that curl up when touched.

He also stocks everything needed to keep houseplants alive, from grow lights to pots local artists designed. There’s also moss sticks, soil and organic pest control. Plus, customers can contact him if they’re stumped on how to care for their new plant.

“I have things that help everyone from a novice grower to an expert,” he said

At the New Brighton Farmers Market, Amanda Basara’s two young sons started potting their own plants in front of the mobile store as their mother purchased a plant, a ginseng ficus bonsai with long, thick roots.

“They’ve never been interested in plants, but they got two today,” she said. “And I picked this one out. I have no idea what it is, but it looks so cool.”

Eaton, of course, will be available to remind her: It’s a ficus microcarpa.