Small business provides healthier ecosystem with native plants
Eliza Carey
(Missoula Current) Just off Rattlesnake Drive is a small but special piece of land. What had long been a growing space for Watershed Consulting – full of native plant stock used for restoration along rivers and landscape repair projects – reinvented itself by the hands of a determined duo.
Andy Martinez, 59, and a long-time employee of Watershed Consulting, took over nursing the plants. Jane McGuire, a University of Montana environmental sciences alum and new mother, stepped in to create an online presence.
Together they laid the foundation for the business near the end of 2023. By April 2024, they swung open the gates of Montana Plants, officially welcoming the public to select native seedlings firsthand.
The nursery offers trees and shrubs such as cottonwoods and larches, flowering and fruiting shrubs such as golden currant and service berry, and wildflowers such as columbine.
Though not a Montana native, McGuire cares for these plants like she is. After years of working seasonally in the Yellowstone backcountry, she earned a master’s in environmental studies from the University of Montana in 2019.
McGuire said she tends to the smaller plants and wildflowers in her own home garden.
“It’s hard to get into the backcountry with three kids, so growing the native plants of my own is a good way to connect,” she said.
She has worked in marketing and communications for nonprofits and now channels that experience into bringing awareness to Montana Plants.
Missoula offers several nurseries, but none dedicated solely to local native species, nor offering plant sizes and varieties like Montana Plants.
Martinez works two days a week at the nursery, tending to the plants and using his homemade soil.
“The reason I'm doing this is because I love plants. I’m not a salesman, it’s to keep it alive,” he said.
In the spring, Montana Plants is open Saturdays in April and May, 10am to 2pm. Summer is closed to focus on plant propagation, but available by appointment on Wednesday evenings. It opens again in the fall, Saturdays in September, 10am to 2pm. A 1-gallon container costs $10, a 2-gallon container costs $20, and larger sizes vary is price.