I'm Nikki, founder of Root & Reach Botanicals and the person who hand-curates every plant in our collection. Here's what you should know about me: I have been obsessed with plants for as long as I can remember. Growing up on a farm in rural Pennsylvania, I had acres of forest, meadows, and working gardens to explore. My parents practically had to drag me inside because I was too busy examining wildflowers, learning which berries were edible, and spending every possible hour in our family's vegetable and fruit garden.
That upbringing gave me something most plant retailers don't have: a lifelong, hands-on education in botany and plant identification. I learned early how differently plants behave, how to recognize varieties by their leaf structure and growth patterns, and how important it is to know exactly what you're bringing into your environment.
As an adult, I carried that curiosity into my home. I became intentional about everything I brought inside: non-toxic cleaning products, organic food, thoughtful choices about what lived in my space. So naturally, when I started building out my houseplant collection, I assumed finding plants verified non-toxic to pets would be straightforward.
It was not.
The research process was genuinely exhausting. I would find a plant I loved, then spend the better part of an hour cross-referencing the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center database, comparing scientific names across multiple sources, and still feeling uncertain about whether I had the right variety. Websites contradicted each other. Retailers offered no verification. And the few stores that had "pet-safe sections" treated them as an afterthought, stocked alongside toxic inventory with no meaningful curation.
That question changed everything. I couldn't unsee the gap in the market. Pet-owning families deserved a retailer that took ASPCA verification seriously, that made it the entire business model rather than a footnote. So I built one.
Root & Reach Botanicals was founded on one principle: every single plant we carry must be cross-referenced with the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center database and verified non-toxic to cats and dogs. No exceptions. No mixed inventory. No guesswork required from the customer.
