At a Bundaberg nursery, the shelves are looking bare, but this is no pandemic panic-buying spree.
Signs posted around the business give shoppers a clue about the reasons for the lack of stock.
Owner Ian Montague is selling plants faster than they can grow, as amateur green thumbs beautify their homes.
"A lot of people are building and a lot of people are buying existing houses, and those people are ripping out the gardens and starting again.
"There is a big, big demand for plants. We haven't seen it like this."
Mr Montague says some customers are worried his nursery is closing down given the lack of plants for sale.
It has been the perfect plant storm over the past two years, according to Mr Montague, which began when homeowners discovered their backyards during pandemic lockdowns.
But he says the building boom has created even bigger demand.
"But then because people couldn't go anywhere, they decided to do their garden.
"We are a lot busier now than when COVID hit."
Like watching grass grow
Each nursery restocks its plant shelves differently, with some propagating and some growing from young plants in slim plastic containers grown by wholesalers known as "tubestock".
Propagating takes 12 to 14 weeks to have a plant ready for sale, while growing from tubestock is faster at six to eight weeks.
But sourcing tubestock plants from wholesalers is also causing issues.
"With growing cuttings, we do suffer more losses, so economically it's more viable for us to buy tubestock in," Mr Montague says.
"But the trick is getting the tubestock in because even the propagators are under the pump.
"What we could just basically pick up off the shelf [once], we have to now order in."
It is a problem Bundaberg wholesale plant grower Denis Krek has also encountered over the past two years as he sells his stock at markets across Queensland's Wide Bay.
"Edibles was the first thing, but after that it didn't matter," Mr Krek says.
"You could take anything to the markets and come home with nothing.
"So early on all my natives were gone and all I was doing was herbs because I couldn't get any tubestock for natives."
Strawberry runners and fruit trees are proving extremely hard to source, with buyers following seasonal trends in the plant world.
As it takes several years before a fruit tree is ready for sale, gardeners are being warned about the wait.
"Stone fruit are very rare at the moment," Mr Krek says.
"Citrus are getting hard to get, different types of lychees.
"It's roughly two years to get a citrus ready for sale, two years for a stand, three years for a dwarf."
Will the plant boom die down?
Mr Krek expects the plant boom to slow down as disposable income shrinks due to rising interest rates and cost of living but believes the edible plants business should keep growing due to rising food costs.
Mr Montague does not expect his ravaged shelves to flourish again anytime soon as home construction continues in the Bundaberg region.
"Speaking to the house builders, they still have a lot of houses coming and a lot of land is being opened up," Mr Montague says.
"So, it will keep going for the next couple of years at least.
"But with the increased numbers of people living in Bundaberg, there's always more room for plants in your garden."
