PLATTSBURGH — Em’s Stems is a green oasis offering “unique, quality house plants” at 5131 U.S. Ave. in Plattsburgh.
Front to back, the store is flush with plants for the novice and the serious collector of hoya or calathea.
Follow Emily “Em” Hildreth on her Facebook page, Em’s Stems with Friends, to see featured plants or learn about upcoming workshops, or pop into her store Tuesday through Thursday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. or Friday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. or Saturday 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The store is closed Sunday and Monday.
Hildreth’s major demographic is women, a lot of women.
“The men that come in here, typically are, into the cactus, fly trap,” she said.
“The same with the kids. I’m learning you can tell what people are into. I like to not just let people come in here to shop, but help them pick plants that are going to live with the light that they have. If they have a history of drowning things, I’m not going to send them home with a succulent. I want them to do well because it boosts their confidence. If they kill everything, they don’t keep buying plants.”
ONLINE LAUNCH
Hildreth started online in 2019 selling prostrate peperomia or “string of turtles.”
“They were rare and from Chile,” she said.
“In 2020, the pandemic hit. Online sales and the nursery market just skyrocketed. It was the highest it had been in like 30 years. With that I was able to buy the greenhouse, which my husband and my dad and my father-in-law took apart and rebuilt for me. It’s a 30-by-50-foot greenhouse.”
This allowed her to move her growing adventures beyond the baby room and hallway.
“Filled up the greenhouse, learned the hard way how to keep everything alive, how to control the temperature,” she said.
“Lot of work. Did that for a few years. Invited people in to shop the greenhouse once a month. I overwintered two winters, and it was like $600 a month in fuel. I was probably losing money, but it was like a little tropical paradise. It was a bad idea. It’s just seasonal now.”
TAKING IT ON THE ROAD
After 2020’s plant boom, things kind of settled down and Hildreth sold more locally.
“I was inviting people to the greenhouse more,” she said.
“I started doing Farmer’s Markets, Keene, every weekend, which was too much on the weekend. At Workbench (Collective, 33 Bridge St.), I have shelves set up in there and Mike’s Flower House (14171 Rt. 9N in Au Sable Forks.) and then I did the plant trailer last year. I would park at Buster’s around the corner every weekend or so. Maybe I’ll pop up for a few markets here and there, but it’s just too much on the weekend.”
GREEN CHILDHOOD
Hildreth’s interaction with growing things began as a child.
“My mom has a similar business actually, Life’s Little Celebrations,” she said.
“She does balloons and cut flowers. She’s in Saranac. She would make me like weed the garden.”
Hildreth opened up her brick-and-mortar location on May 5.
“Everything is through Facebook,” she said.
“They have been following me since the hallway. They’ve been so incredibly, over-the-top supportive, along with my family, of course, my mom and my husband.
“I’m new to this location, but they’ve been kind of following me through the whole thing, so I don’t feel as if I’m starting so fresh.”
TOP SELLERS
Hoya is her top seller online.
“I’ve never sold a single one locally,” she said.
“I sell cuttings. I grow some plants. There are 63 different varieties ranging from $2 to $12 a cutting. Each cutting has a number. I have most of them memorized. They order whatever variety they want, and I take cuttings and put them together. I’m here packing all day while the shop is open.”
“Hoya heads” comprise a super niche.
“People really, really get into collecting them,” she said.
“This entire plant would probably sell for $120, but if they buy a cutting they can grow their own.”
Calathea, a cousin to the prayer plant, is a top seller to locals.
“It’s super trendy right now,” she said.
“People get addicted to collecting the different varieties. You might know the common snake plant, but there’s hundreds and hundreds of snake plants that people collect. It’s like a scavenger hunt trying to find them.”
A single fig tree is a sculptural accent in one corner of the shop.
“Those are really pretty, but people are afraid of them because they die pretty easily,” she said.
“They need a lot of light. That’s a dwarf variety.”
GROW LIGHTS KEY
For the plant shy, Hildreth recommends a viner or anything with a fat leaf.
“There are a lot of plants that are known to be easier,” she said.
“Light is the biggest issue. People try to put it in a dark corner and then they wonder why it’s not happy.
“All these grow lights are on timers. The more light, the better the plant is going to do. Even a low-light plant like a snake plant still loves light. If you put it in a dark corner, it will stay alive but it’s not going to grow or do anything.”
In a tropical climes like Hawaii, many of her plants would flower.
“But in a living room, they probably won’t,” she said.
“And they’re pretty unimpressive looking when they do. Any philodendron, typically, can get huge leaves, but again it won’t in your living room.”
When Hildreth assessed her store’s attributes, she was concerned that the building’s windows were somewhat small.
“It isn’t like I thought it would be,” she said.
“I just buy a new grow light every week because they give me one $30 coupon a week. I’ve slowly built up the whole shop.”
For more information, email: emsstems@yahoo.com or call 518-764-5577.
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