Back Alley House Plants
@growcoolplants.bsky.social
we are a houseplant retailer and grower at 501 Main St in Ames, IA
co-owned by @sararah.bsky.social
we grow cool plants
insta: backalleyhouseplants
www.backalleyhouseplants.com
co-owned by @sararah.bsky.social
we grow cool plants
insta: backalleyhouseplants
www.backalleyhouseplants.com
Pinned
Have been thinking about making a shop account for a while! We are Back Alley House Plants located at 501 Main Street in Downtown Ames, IA. We are trying to do small business our way, while working through our very millennial midlife crisis. Follow along for plants & shenanigans.
Reposted by Back Alley House Plants
Today at @growcoolplants.bsky.social, I finally brought up some pieces of my mom’s hoya fungii which had dark green and FUZZY leaves!
Also, two things of note: we are authorized to ship plants now and also we have a LOT of hoya. So if you are looking for a specific variety, HMU.
Also, two things of note: we are authorized to ship plants now and also we have a LOT of hoya. So if you are looking for a specific variety, HMU.
July 31, 2025 at 12:14 AM
Today at @growcoolplants.bsky.social, I finally brought up some pieces of my mom’s hoya fungii which had dark green and FUZZY leaves!
Also, two things of note: we are authorized to ship plants now and also we have a LOT of hoya. So if you are looking for a specific variety, HMU.
Also, two things of note: we are authorized to ship plants now and also we have a LOT of hoya. So if you are looking for a specific variety, HMU.
Great event with the Octagon Center for the Arts tonight - painting upcycled pottery, and we brought $5 plants and stickers + free cuttings to share. Amazing turnout!! We love creating community, one plant at a time.
Shout out to Octagon staff and volunteers for (literally) doing the heavy lifting
Shout out to Octagon staff and volunteers for (literally) doing the heavy lifting
June 20, 2025 at 1:22 AM
Great event with the Octagon Center for the Arts tonight - painting upcycled pottery, and we brought $5 plants and stickers + free cuttings to share. Amazing turnout!! We love creating community, one plant at a time.
Shout out to Octagon staff and volunteers for (literally) doing the heavy lifting
Shout out to Octagon staff and volunteers for (literally) doing the heavy lifting
Hoya mother plant maintenance day. Everyone got a hose down, spray with insecticidal soap and spray with horticultural sulfur. I haven’t used sulfur until this spring but another grower swears by it. #houseplants
June 7, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Hoya mother plant maintenance day. Everyone got a hose down, spray with insecticidal soap and spray with horticultural sulfur. I haven’t used sulfur until this spring but another grower swears by it. #houseplants
Tuesday evening scenes from the basement:
1. Hoya sunrise in bloom
2. Venus flytrap about to bloom
3. Anthurium crystal hope
4. Hoya Russell, which lost its leaf from the propagation cutting, but I didn’t throw it away and it’s pushing a new leaf!
1. Hoya sunrise in bloom
2. Venus flytrap about to bloom
3. Anthurium crystal hope
4. Hoya Russell, which lost its leaf from the propagation cutting, but I didn’t throw it away and it’s pushing a new leaf!
April 16, 2025 at 2:54 AM
Tuesday evening scenes from the basement:
1. Hoya sunrise in bloom
2. Venus flytrap about to bloom
3. Anthurium crystal hope
4. Hoya Russell, which lost its leaf from the propagation cutting, but I didn’t throw it away and it’s pushing a new leaf!
1. Hoya sunrise in bloom
2. Venus flytrap about to bloom
3. Anthurium crystal hope
4. Hoya Russell, which lost its leaf from the propagation cutting, but I didn’t throw it away and it’s pushing a new leaf!
Is there anything better than a greenhouse kitty? Met Charlie (Creeping Charlie) and Phil (Philodendron) today 😻 brothers, five months old, so friendly.
April 10, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Is there anything better than a greenhouse kitty? Met Charlie (Creeping Charlie) and Phil (Philodendron) today 😻 brothers, five months old, so friendly.
Reposted by Back Alley House Plants
Last week we shared a video of a false vivipary on a Dente Venus Flytrap and, uh, things have progressed...
March 29, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Last week we shared a video of a false vivipary on a Dente Venus Flytrap and, uh, things have progressed...
Reposted by Back Alley House Plants
It’s always shelf-o-clock in the basement
March 29, 2025 at 2:08 PM
It’s always shelf-o-clock in the basement
Reposted by Back Alley House Plants
Niche internet celebrity @chemjobber.bsky.social and his eldest child passed through Ames the other day on their Midwest college campus road trip. CJ took this pic of me in the @growcoolplants.bsky.social basement and it’s 💯 how I feel every time I’m in the plant basement 🪴
March 27, 2025 at 1:15 AM
Niche internet celebrity @chemjobber.bsky.social and his eldest child passed through Ames the other day on their Midwest college campus road trip. CJ took this pic of me in the @growcoolplants.bsky.social basement and it’s 💯 how I feel every time I’m in the plant basement 🪴
Reposted by Back Alley House Plants
I will never not think it's cool that the provincial flower of Newfoundland is the carnivorous purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea.
March 26, 2025 at 8:01 PM
I will never not think it's cool that the provincial flower of Newfoundland is the carnivorous purple pitcher plant, Sarracenia purpurea.
Oh hello. Still here, not posting, only so much bandwidth.
Bad: a friend and customer is moving back to Canada
Good(?): she has donated her entire plant collection to the shop with the request that we sell it and donate the proceeds.
We are also donating plants & looking for more donations!
Bad: a friend and customer is moving back to Canada
Good(?): she has donated her entire plant collection to the shop with the request that we sell it and donate the proceeds.
We are also donating plants & looking for more donations!
March 27, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Oh hello. Still here, not posting, only so much bandwidth.
Bad: a friend and customer is moving back to Canada
Good(?): she has donated her entire plant collection to the shop with the request that we sell it and donate the proceeds.
We are also donating plants & looking for more donations!
Bad: a friend and customer is moving back to Canada
Good(?): she has donated her entire plant collection to the shop with the request that we sell it and donate the proceeds.
We are also donating plants & looking for more donations!
She did it again and spent all day in the shop basement. Anyways here are some #anthurium we grew from seedlings or germinated seeds, very proud. 🥹 #houseplants
March 1, 2025 at 11:35 PM
She did it again and spent all day in the shop basement. Anyways here are some #anthurium we grew from seedlings or germinated seeds, very proud. 🥹 #houseplants
While we support the economic blackout on Friday, we also gotta make rent. If you are supporting small biz this weekend (or any time) - at least for us, cash is always appreciated as we don’t pay a swipe fee.
A crucial aspect of this, should you participate, is CASH ONLY. Credit card processing companies and POS companies rack in millions from credit card swipes. 10 cents here, 20 cents there, 2.5%, blah blah blah.
I am intimately familiar with the industry and I’ll tell you, it’s part of the coup.
I am intimately familiar with the industry and I’ll tell you, it’s part of the coup.
REMINDER: FRI FEB. 28, US ECONOMIC BLACKOUT -No spending except for small, independent businesses, not massive companies-Cash only! Raise awareness of the enormous power of our collective action & set the stage for bigger future actions. #WeHaveThePower
February 26, 2025 at 11:38 PM
While we support the economic blackout on Friday, we also gotta make rent. If you are supporting small biz this weekend (or any time) - at least for us, cash is always appreciated as we don’t pay a swipe fee.
Approx. 5 bullets on what I did this past week:
-watered plants
-watered plants
-repotted plants
-watered plants
-ping farm 2.0
-watered plants
-watered plants
-repotted plants
-watered plants
-ping farm 2.0
Approx. 5 bullets on what I did this past week:
-looked at magnet
-appreciated magnet
-hello, magnet
-contemplated magnet
-magnet
-looked at magnet
-appreciated magnet
-hello, magnet
-contemplated magnet
-magnet
Approx. 5 bullets on what I did this past week:
-Ionic bonding
-Covalent bonding
-Hydrogen bonding
-Backbonding!
-Sterics and/or electronics
-Ionic bonding
-Covalent bonding
-Hydrogen bonding
-Backbonding!
-Sterics and/or electronics
February 23, 2025 at 1:42 AM
Approx. 5 bullets on what I did this past week:
-watered plants
-watered plants
-repotted plants
-watered plants
-ping farm 2.0
-watered plants
-watered plants
-repotted plants
-watered plants
-ping farm 2.0
Ping Farm 2.0 #pinguicula #carnivorousplants
February 22, 2025 at 10:19 PM
Ping Farm 2.0 #pinguicula #carnivorousplants
Manifesting
February 15, 2025 at 8:14 PM
Manifesting
Gratuitous personal plant post: anthurium crystallinum x magnificum and silver blush both pushed new leaves around the same time and they are both so, so pretty. Silver blush leaf got a small crease from getting stuck on the neighbor stem but still almost perfect.
February 15, 2025 at 1:50 AM
Gratuitous personal plant post: anthurium crystallinum x magnificum and silver blush both pushed new leaves around the same time and they are both so, so pretty. Silver blush leaf got a small crease from getting stuck on the neighbor stem but still almost perfect.
We keep our carnivorous in a shallow fish tank situation we call “the bog” and it was starting to get a bit crusty. Took a few hours last weekend to empty it, scrub, and soak the leca in dilute vinegar water. I’m incapable of taking a before pic so here is the bog empty and when I put back the leca
February 15, 2025 at 1:36 AM
We keep our carnivorous in a shallow fish tank situation we call “the bog” and it was starting to get a bit crusty. Took a few hours last weekend to empty it, scrub, and soak the leca in dilute vinegar water. I’m incapable of taking a before pic so here is the bog empty and when I put back the leca
Oh hello. I’m sure things are fine! (They are not fine!) anyways here are some plants!
Euphorbia trigona green and rubra
Fun fact: my mom had a euphorbia lactea that was about 12 ft tall. We still have some propagated pieces kicking around!
Euphorbia trigona green and rubra
Fun fact: my mom had a euphorbia lactea that was about 12 ft tall. We still have some propagated pieces kicking around!
February 15, 2025 at 1:29 AM
Oh hello. I’m sure things are fine! (They are not fine!) anyways here are some plants!
Euphorbia trigona green and rubra
Fun fact: my mom had a euphorbia lactea that was about 12 ft tall. We still have some propagated pieces kicking around!
Euphorbia trigona green and rubra
Fun fact: my mom had a euphorbia lactea that was about 12 ft tall. We still have some propagated pieces kicking around!
One of the admins of a local houseplant buy-sell-trade page changed the name of the group this morning, lol
February 10, 2025 at 2:47 PM
One of the admins of a local houseplant buy-sell-trade page changed the name of the group this morning, lol
Reposted by Back Alley House Plants
<going to Menards to buy another wire shelf>
this will cure my depression
this will cure my depression
February 9, 2025 at 2:21 AM
<going to Menards to buy another wire shelf>
this will cure my depression
this will cure my depression
February 9, 2025 at 2:08 AM
Spent part of Sunday afternoon sitting on the floor in the shop basement organizing the pinguicula. As you do.
February 3, 2025 at 1:14 PM
Spent part of Sunday afternoon sitting on the floor in the shop basement organizing the pinguicula. As you do.
We bolted giant LGBTQIA+ pride and trans pride panels to the side of our building after our fabric flags were vandalized last year. In case you are wondering where we stand on the issue. 🏳️🌈🪴🏳️⚧️ #transrightsarehumanrights
bsky.app/profile/sara...
bsky.app/profile/sara...
February 2, 2025 at 1:44 AM
We bolted giant LGBTQIA+ pride and trans pride panels to the side of our building after our fabric flags were vandalized last year. In case you are wondering where we stand on the issue. 🏳️🌈🪴🏳️⚧️ #transrightsarehumanrights
bsky.app/profile/sara...
bsky.app/profile/sara...
Reposted by Back Alley House Plants
Here is a nice mushroom
January 26, 2025 at 3:11 PM
Here is a nice mushroom