When I was a kid I had a toy called Plantsters—a tiny plastic greenhouse where seeds sprouted on little floating animal growers, then moved into miniature pots to keep growing.

Somehow it had almost no presence on the net. So I bought a set, scanned everything, and built this—for collectors, nostalgic kids, and anyone still trying to remember its name.

Plantsters was a real gardening kit shrunk down to kid size. As a fellow Plantsters seeker (Bud) described it online:

"Plantsters was basically a kid gardening kit. It came with a plastic leaf that you put water in. You took the seeds and placed them on these little flotation frogs that sat in the water making the seeds touch the water's surface. After a few weeks the seeds sprouted roots then you transferred them over to this top soil and miniature flower pot to continue growing."

The box promised "a real garden, alive with the magic of nature"—and it delivered, using real Burpee® seeds. That guy and I can't be the only ones with fond memories of this plastic greenhouse.

The way I understand it, Plantsters started out at J. Lloyd International and was later picked up and sold under the LJN Toys banner—the rainbow logo most of us remember off the box. It arrived in 1988 and grew into a small family: a full Greenhouse, a smaller Junior Greenhouse, and refill packs. See the family and the paper trail.

Proof it was real, and the closest thing to a time machine we have: the original Plantsters television spot, preserved by a fan.

Uploaded as "Plantsters (1988)" by Matthew Callan—the only known video record of the toy on the net. That 1988 date is backed up by the trademark filing, which claims first use in March of that year.

This site exists because the internet nearly forgot Plantsters. If you have fond—or horrible—Plantsters memories, a box you can scan, a catalog page, a commercial, or just a better guess at who made it, I want to hear from you.