Plant Smarter With Plant Select®
Plant Select® is a regional plant introduction organization founded in 1997. As a collaboration between Colorado State University and Denver Botanic Gardens, the organization has brought together many of the region's best horticulturists, plant breeders, landscapers, and commercial plant growers with the goal of introducing regionally suitable plants for the Great Plains and Intermountain states.
The criteria used for the selection process is rather strict and includes the following ten attributes:
The plants must be:
- Durable
- Flourish with less water
- Thrive in a broad range of conditions
- Habitat-friendly
- Tough and resilient in challenging climates
- One of a kind/unique
- Resist disease & insects
- Long-lasting beauty
- Non-invasive
- Cold hardy
Shop Plant Select® Perennials From High Country Gardens
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![Pink and White Penstemon mexicali Red Rocks, Penstemon mexicali Red Rocks, Red Rocks Hybrid Beardtongue]()
Penstemon Red Rocks (Beardtongue) is a superb hybrid variety that blooms most of the summer with large rose-pink flowers. The plants are vigorous and have attractive glossy green fol...
Learn MoreRed Rocks Penstemon Red Rocks Hybrid Beardtongue Penstemon mexicali Red Rocks$10.99Per Plant - 5" Deep Pot -
![Pike's Peak Purple hybrid Beardtongue, Penstemon mexicali Pike's Peak Purple]()
Pikes Peak Purple is a superb hybrid variety that blooms most of the summer with large concord grape-purple flowers. The plants are vigorous and have attractive glossy green foliage....
Learn MorePike's Peak Purple Penstemon Pike's Peak Purple hybrid Beardtongue Penstemon mexicali Pike's Peak Purple$12.99 Sale $11.69Sale Price I Save 10%Per Plant - 5" Deep Pot -
![Apache Plume, Fallugia paradoxa]()
Apache Plume is one of our showiest native western shrubs. Beginning in late spring and continuing through summer the plant blooms with single white flowers that set fluffy pink seed...
Learn MoreApache Plume (Fallugia) Apache Plume Fallugia paradoxa$14.49 Sale $13.04Sale Price I Save 10%Per Plant - 5" Deep Pot -
![Phlomis cashmeriana photo courtesy of Plant Select]()
Kashmir Sage is an amazingly beautiful plant with showy spires of bright lavender-pink flowers. The huge leaves and stately flower spikes give the perennial great architectural value...
Learn MoreKashmir False Sage (Phlomis) Kashmir False Sage Phlomis cashmeriana$13.99 Sale $12.59Sale Price I Save 10%Per Plant - 5" Deep Pot
Plant Select® & High Country Gardens
Over the last 25 years, these efforts have been wildly successful, currently having brought to the market 150 noteworthy plants - with new perennials added every year. Plants in the program include a wide range of native perennials, shrubs, and ornamental grasses, in addition to a wide-ranging assortment of cold-hardy species from Europe, Asia, and South Africa.
While the organization's focus is to introduce plants adapted to western growing conditions, gardeners elsewhere in the country have discovered that some of these plants are also suitable for the eastern half of the US as well.
As a founding member of the organization, High Country Gardens Chief Horticulturist David Salman discovered and developed six of the plants that were brought into the program:
- Wee One English Lavender (Lavandula angustifolia)
- Blonde Ambition Blue Grama Grass (Bouteloua gracilis Blonde Ambition PP#22,048)
- Thin Man Indian Grass (Sorghastrum nutans Thin Man PP#28,923)
- Gold on Blue Prairie Zinnia (Zinnia grandiflora)
- Orange Carpet® Zauscnheria or Creeping Hummingbird Trumpet (Zauschneria garrettii)
- Red Mountain® Flame Ice Plant (Delosperma x PWWG02S)
David also helped to popularize and create a market through High Country Gardens for another handful of noteworthy plants, including Platinum® Dwarf Silver Leaf Salvia (Salvia daghestanica), Red Birds In A Tree (Scrophularia macrantha), and Undaunted® Ruby Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia reverchonii), and others that were later brought into the program.
Heroes Of Horticulture
High Country Gardens has partnered with Plant Select® for many years to offer unique, tough, and reliable plants for the waterwise garden. Our partnership continues with Heroes of Horticulture! In this series, we'll feature some of the most well-known names in the industry, and highlight the hard work of the plant enthusiasts behind some of the most popular plants in the High Country Gardens catalog.
What makes a Hero of Horticulture? A Horticulture Hero has a passion for plants, is driven to understand and experiment with plants, and is not afraid to fail in pursuit of plant knowledge and discovery. Read on!
