Greenhouse Grows Native Plants in Sheridan

Padilla (left) and Bretzman talk about native plants

Piney Island Native Plants in Sheridan, Wyoming, is the only greenhouse in the state that grows native plants. Owner Alisha Bretzman talks about what she does at the greenhouse.

She said she became interested in starting a greenhouse when she 18, but at the time it seemed like it wasn’t really a possible dream. Then when she attended Sheridan College, she took a greenhouse management class, and knew that that is what she wanted to do. She graduated from Sheridan College in 2012 and continued her studies in horticulture.

Bretzman combined her passions and education to form Piney Island Native Plants, LLC. (PINP). As a business, PINP germinated with the help of the University of Wyoming’s Technology Business Center and 2019 Start-Up Challenge, where she received both finalist and audience choice awards.

As well as working with ranches and the Wyoming Game and Fish to increase wildlife habitat, Bretzman said

This year they are working with Sheridan, Johnson, Washakie and Campbell counties with the pollinator packages. She said that each area of the state has different species of plants.

Bretzman said that her business also works with Dave Malutich of Piney Island Conservation Services, who does native species landscaping, and PINP provides plants for his projects. She added that they did a grow out for the Nation Park Service in Badlands, SD, and Malutich did the installation and is involved with maintenance on the project.

“It is amazing to see what he has accomplished with our plants,” she added.

She grows everything from seed, and she sources regionally collected seeds from Wind River Seed in Manderson, Wyoming. She added that PINP also do some of their own seed collecting as well.

As well as working with entities that need plants for wildlife and wild-land reclamation, she also sells native wildflowers, bunch grasses and shrubs to homeowners looking to incorporate them into their landscaping.

Paige Padilla is the assistant manager of the greenhouse. This is her second year working at the greenhouse.

For anyone wishing to purchase native plants for their landscaping, there will be a public plant sale on Saturday, June 1, from 9 – noon at Piney Island Native Plants greenhouse on Sheridan College Campus. She is asking people to park in parking lot K when they come to the sale.

Bretzman added that she feels lucky and that now, in year five, she feels like they have made it with the business.