THREE WOMEN. ONE RECIPE.
Sally Read, Owner
Bear Down. Once a Wildcat, always a Wildcat.
After graduating from the University of Arizona, I packed up and headed to California to start my career with E&J Gallo Winery. Over the next several years, I worked my way through sales, marketing, hospitality, and national events, learning from some of the best producers in the wine industry and developing a deep appreciation for how things are grown, crafted, and cared for.
Life eventually brought me to San Diego in 2019 with my two kids, Jackie and Dean, and the opportunity for a fresh start. I spent a brief chapter in recruiting, but it never felt quite right. What did feel right was plants.
I was spending every free moment visiting nurseries, learning everything I could, filling my home with greenery, and discovering just how much joy plants could bring to everyday life.
Then I met Abby.
What started as a connection quickly became a mentorship and, eventually, an opportunity to carry forward a business with decades of history caring for plants professionally. In 2021, I purchased Abby's Plantscaping, continuing a legacy that stretches back more than 40 years.
Included in that transition was something special: a professional leaf-cleaning formula that had been used for decades by interiorscaping teams to care for thousands of plants in homes, offices, and commercial spaces. Along with the business itself, I became the steward of that formula and the responsibility that came with it.
Rather than let it remain an industry secret, I saw an opportunity to bring it directly to plant lovers everywhere.
In 2022, Plant Ninja was born.
Today, Plant Ninja and Simple Roots Plant Design are built around a simple belief: healthy plants make people happy. Whether we're caring for plants in homes and businesses, sharing plant education, creating products, or building community through events and partnerships, the goal is always the same: help more people succeed with plants.
If you've ever celebrated a new leaf, rearranged a room around a plant, or walked into a nursery "just to look" and left with three new green friends, you're in good company.
Welcome to the jungle. 🌿
"I didn't reformulate to cut costs. We mix the recipe I was given, the way I was taught, in the room where it gets shipped to you."
Abby Moldenhauer- Consultant
A San Diego native, Abby has been passionate about plants since high school. While everyone else was signing up for 4H, she was immersed in horticulture classes and discovering a lifelong love for the plant world.
After working in local nurseries throughout San Diego, Abby joined Sharon Kersey at Piggyback Productions in 1979 and quickly found her calling in interior plantscaping. Just two years later, she purchased the company, renamed it Abby's Plantscaping, and spent the next four decades building one of San Diego's most respected plant care businesses.
Under Abby's leadership, the company grew to serve more than 100 clients with a dedicated team of plant professionals and a reputation built on expertise, consistency, and exceptional care.
When it came time to retire, Abby thoughtfully transitioned the business to its next chapter. In August 2021, she sold Abby's Plantscaping to Sally Read, passing along not only the client relationships and decades of knowledge, but also the professional leaf-cleaning formula that would later become Plant Ninja.
Fortunately for all of us, retirement didn't stick.
Today, Abby serves as a consultant, mentor, educator, and trusted advisor. Her decades of experience continue to guide both Simple Roots Plant Design and Plant Ninja, helping preserve the traditions, knowledge, and plant wisdom that have shaped the business for more than 40 years.
If you've ever used Plant Ninja, benefited from a Simple Roots plant care visit, or learned something from one of Abby's classes, you've experienced a little piece of her legacy.
She is, and always will be, the original Plant Ninja.
Because that ties Abby's story directly into the brand story and reinforces the lineage you're building throughout the site. It turns Plant Ninja from "a product Sally sells" into "a formula that has been professionally used and passed down through generations of women-owned plant businesses." That's a much more memorable story.
