Where to find houseplants in Fresno. With two new stores open, what’s behind the trend?
It’s the latest fad on Instagram. Self care during quarantine. A trend that Millennials are jumping on.
Whatever the reason, houseplants are a huge deal right now.
So big that two new stores selling houseplants have opened in Fresno.
Both are open by appointment only so far.
Living Together is downtown next to Fulton Street Coffee and Let It Grow is on Shields Avenue around the corner from Gazebo Gardens nursery.
Both have stories that are shaped by quarantining during the coronavirus pandemic – and in one case, job loss – and the rising popularity of plants on Instagram.
Instagram and COVID
Using hashtags like #plantstagram and #plantnerd, plants have exploded on Instagram.
Accounts like The Jungalow and Urban Jungle Bloggers each have more than a million followers and feature rooms lush with plants. Boys with Plants takes the trend even further, featuring racy submitted photos of young men posing with strategically placed houseplants.
The owners of both the new Fresno stores started their ventures on Instagram. One sold plants to friends via Instagram and the other chronicled their outdoor garden.
Both accounts snowballed into businesses.
“I think it is very trendy at the moment,” said Kelly Replogle, who owns Let It Grow with partner Daniel Karkoska. “I have over 200 plants in my house and every time a new leaf comes, it’s the same as the first, it’s the same joy and excitement.”
People are stuck at home and wanting to make their living spaces as pleasing as possible, she said. She calls it self care, because of the soothing aesthetic and houseplants’ ability to turn the carbon dioxide we exhale into oxygen.
Everardo “Evie” Barragán, owner of Living Together, agreed.
“If you’re in a space full of a lot of green, you feel great … You don’t feel so disconnected to the outside world or the natural world,” he said.
Barragán is big on community, and chose to open his store downtown because he wants to see the area thrive.
But it was quarantining with her 3-year-old daughter that inspired the name of Replogle’s store, Let It Grow. The girl was watching the movie “Frozen” and singing its earworm chorus “Let it go” on repeat.
And coronavirus was part of the reason she decided to open the store.
When COVID-19 hit, she lost her job as a director of the aerial silks program – where performers do acrobatics in the air while hanging from the long swaths of fabric – at the California Arts Academy.
“We were like well, ‘What can we do to make money that we’re also passionate about?’” she said.
Millennial plant parents
About 50% of people buying houseplants lately are under age 35, according to the Garden Media Group and Plants.com.
Such “plant parents” tend to live in urban areas and aren’t at the home-buying or child-bearing stages of life yet, so houseplants are a low-risk investment and inexpensive decor, according to their research.
While there’s definitely interest from Millennials, Replogle said she’s getting customers of all ages, from “young people who are wanting to try out their green thumb for the first time and seasoned plant parents who have been doing this for a while.”
Of course, these aren’t the first houseplant stores in town.
Foliage has had a store in Old Town Clovis since 2019 and also sells online.
How to buy
Both the new stores also sell pots to put the plants in — and they are made by local and regional artists.
Let It Grow is at 529 E. Shields Ave. and open for appointments Thursdays through Sundays.
Make an appointment online at www.letitgrowfresno.com. A $20 deposit is required but goes toward any purchase and is refunded if no purchase is made.
It also offers delivery.
Living Together, which also specializes in hard-to-find plants, is at 2017 Tuolumne St.
It’s open by appointment Wednesdays through Saturdays. To make an appointment, email info@livingtogether.store or send a message through Instagram.
Both stores eventually plan to have regular hours, but since they’re so small, appointments are the safest way to handle COVID-19.
This story was originally published February 3, 2021 at 10:24 AM.
