About Trimmed Bush Co.

Trimmed Bush Co started during a strange, uncomfortable chapter of my life.

Not too long ago I picked up an injury that messed with my mobility. Walking was hard. Sitting was worse. A spinal surgery was on the horizon, followed by a long recovery where I’d be stuck in one place, bored out of my mind and in pain. I needed something calming. Something absorbing. Something that didn’t require me to go anywhere.

Aquariums felt like the obvious answer.

I’d grown up around fish and aquariums. As a kid and teen in Sri Lanka, I was always tinkering with aquariums and even built tanks for other people for pocket money. After migrating to NZ in my early 20s, life got busy and the hobby quietly slipped away. Still, I never really left it. A lot of my spare time was spent watching aquascaping videos on YouTube, living vicariously through other people’s tanks.

So I jumped back in. Hard.

Within days I’d found a 600L tank. Shortly after, it was sitting in the middle of the living room. Then came the plants.

Growing up in the tropics, we were spoiled for choice when it came to aquarium plants. NZ is different – understandably so, thanks to strict biosecurity rules – but I was still surprised by how limited the range was. I ordered close to $500 worth of plants from a well-known local shop, excited to finally get started.

Opening that box was rough.

Most of the plants were tiny. Some were in poor shape. Even fast-growing, beginner plants barely had any mass to them. It didn’t feel like something grown with care, and it definitely didn’t feel like good value. More than anything, it killed the excitement I’d been building up.

That feeling stuck with me.

Trimmed Bush Co exists because I wanted to do better than that – for myself, and for anyone else ordering plants online. I wanted people to open a package and feel happy straight away.

These days the hobby has taken over the house a bit. There are multiple tanks, grow tubs, and plant setups spread around, and I spend a lot of time trimming, propagating, and yes… occasionally talking to the plants while I work. It’s equal parts obsession and therapy.

You’ll usually find me and my dog Marshmallow parked in front of the main tank, just watching it do its thing. It’s still my way to slow down. And every order that goes out is treated the same way I wish my own had been.

That’s really it. Just good plants, grown with care, by someone who genuinely loves the hobby.

— Ishara
Founder, Trimmed Bush Co.