Our Daily Show Interview! Emily Tucker- Plant Em!
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ALTON - There’s a new store for plant lovers in downtown Alton.
Plant Em, located at 302 East Broadway in Alton, sells a variety of rare, tropical and exotic plants. Owner Emily Tucker shared that plants helped her get through a tough time, and she hopes to help other people, too.
“My store is my therapy,” Tucker said. “I finally made it happen.”
Plant Em is open from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays and 12–4 p.m. on Sundays. Tucker is currently splitting her time between the store, her full-time job as a dental assistant, and her children, but she hopes to expand the store’s hours in the future.
She shared that she first discovered new coping mechanisms 10 years ago at an eating disorder recovery center. A few years later, Tucker was going through “something really stressful” and stumbled across a bear’s paw succulent on TikTok. She soon became fascinated with rare plants and devoted herself to the search for a bear’s paw succulent.
“It was something rare and unusual, and it gave me something to seek after,” Tucker remembered. “I realized it was giving me something to wake up for, to be excited about: to search for a rare plant and find it and find ways to propagate it, and, if I kill it, ways I can make it live. Before I realized it, I didn’t have to fake it until I made it. I was kind of making it for real.”
Plants became Tucker’s hobby. She started seeking out rare and exotic plants on Facebook Marketplace, and soon, she was selling them herself.
Plant Em eventually expanded to a brick-and-mortar store in Milton Schoolhouse, then recently relocated to 302 East Broadway. Tucker is proud of how the store has grown and looks forward to sharing plants from her new location.
When Tucker receives a new plant, she repots it in proper soil with a systemic pesticide. If the plant can be treated with neem oil, she’ll do so. Tucker’s goal is to ensure the plants are healthy and ready to go before they’re purchased.
“I really make sure that these plants are going to thrive once they go to their new homes,” she said.
In addition to selling plants, Plant Em regularly hosts classes, such as an open terrarium class where Tucker teaches people how to pot plants in a terrarium. She looks forward to offering more events in the future as she gets settled into the store.
Plant Em also displays work by Stephen Scordias and Charles Mooneyham as the first satellite location for Mooneyham Art, a local art gallery. The store has a “boyfriend corner” for people to lounge while their partners shop. Tucker is proud to create a fun, happy environment for her plants and her customers — or, as she calls them, her friends.
“Life’s looking great,” she added. “I love it.”
To learn more about Plant Em, visit their official Facebook page.
If you or someone you know is struggling with mental health issues or eating disorders, help is available. Contact the National Eating Disorders Association at nationaleatingdisorders.org. For immediate mental health support, call or text the Suicide & Crisis Lifeline at 988.
