Plant Smarter With Plant Select® & High Country Gardens
Plant Select® is a collaboration between Colorado State University, Denver Botanic Gardens, and many of the region's best horticulturists, plant breeders, landscapers, and commercial plant growers. This organization continually works toward the goal of introducing regionally suitable plants for the Great Plains and Intermountain states.
High Country Gardens founder David Salman was a founding member of Plant Select®. The organization enabled David to introduce many of his 60+ plant varieties. High Country Gardens offers one of the largest selections of Plant Select® plants available for purchase in the country - with the convenience of online delivery and nationwide shipping.
Over the last 25 years and counting, the efforts of Plant Select® have been wildly successful. Through the organization, over 150 noteworthy plants have been brought to market, with new perennials added every year. Plant Select® plants are thoroughly garden tested in regional gardens and growing conditions. In order to make the cut, they are evaluated by a strict criteria including ten essential attributes. Plant Select® plants must be:
- Durable
- Able to flourish with less water
- Able to thrive in a broad range of conditions
- Habitat-friendly
- Tough and resilient in challenging climates
- One-of-a-kind or unique
- Resistant to disease & insects
- A source of long-lasting beauty
- Non-invasive
- Cold hardy
When you choose a Plant Select® plant, you'll know that it's a trustworthy choice to thrive in the toughest growing conditions that western gardens have to offer.
Shop Plant Select® Perennials From High Country Gardens
Plant Select® & High Country Gardens Partnership
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 regions of Europe, Asia, and South Africa that share similar arid and mountainous climates as the American West.
While the organization's focus is to introduce plants adapted to western growing conditions, gardeners 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 Founder 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 and High Country Gardens also helped to popularize and sell many noteworthy Plant Select® introductions, including Platinum® Dwarf Silver Leaf Salvia (Salvia daghestanica), Red Birds In A Tree (Scrophularia macrantha), Undaunted® Ruby Muhly Grass (Muhlenbergia reverchonii), and more.
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!
