High Country Gardens Review
Ratings of their Water-Wise Catalog, Website and Company
Specializing in xeric landscapes and water-wise plants, High Country Gardens has several perennials and lawn alternatives. See how High Country Gardens ranked.
Each category will be ranked 1 (poor) through 5 (excellent) and the catalog, website and overall company will be ranked separately.
- High Country Gardens Catalog Review - Examining the Printed Catalog
Number and Plant Pictures: Rating 5. The High Country Gardens catalog is 100 pages with high-quality, glossy pages featuring over 250 plants.
Plant Descriptions and Cultivation Information: Rating 5. The High Country Gardens catalog makes it easy for gardeners to pinpoint which plants would work best in their specific garden situation.
Gardening Tips: Rating 5. In designed garden packages and several side bars gardeners will find great nuggets of landscaping tips, growing information and even dead-heading guidelines.
Prices and Discounts: Rating 5. The prices are very reasonable prices, especially considering that all the plants are potted and never shipped bare-root. It seems worthwhile for gardeners to invest in the premium pots which are much deeper and allow a stronger root system than the regular sized, less expensive pots.
Plant or Garden Packages: Rating 5. Many pre-planned garden packages are available in several different themes such as aromatic, bloom time, water tolerance, and colors.
Organizational Structure: Rating 4. The High Country catalog is organized according to plant type groups such as 'Ground Covers', 'Xeric Perennials', and 'Hardy Perennials' but then also organized according to bloom time. If a gardener is designing a year-round garden plot with shrubs, ground covers and perennials they will spend some time flipping back and forth but a detailed index in the center makes it easier to find a specific plant.
- High Country Gardens Website Review – A Look at High Country Gardens Online
Number of Plants and Pictures: Rating 4. A bit more difficult to find just the plants, High Country Gardens website includes a lot of garden tools, art and hardscape features beyond just the plants. They do however have over 450 individual plants listed on the website so gardeners have many xeric plant options.
Plant Descriptions and Cultivation Information: Rating 5. Good information and photos are included with each plant High Country Gardens has listed on the website.
Organizational Structure: Rating 4. The website is a little on the busy side with so many gardening supplies being offered, it was difficult to find just the plants at first. Once gardeners get into the website each page has many nice links leading to additional information, companion plants and other helpful articles.
Informational Articles and Other Features: Rating 5. Several educational articles are not only located in a separate section but also woven throughout the site so gardeners will learn how to replace lawns with water-wise alternatives, or find out when to dead head their sage plants. Frequent e-zines are also available for gardeners to register for online.
- High Country Gardens Company Review - Details about the Company
Years in Business: High Country Gardens was started 14 years ago.
Number of Plants Total: More than 200 plants are offered through the catalog and twice that available online with 25-35 new plant introductions each year.
Dave’s Garden Ranking: 94/100 - High Country is a Watchdog Top 30 company. Randall Schultz in public relations says, "We are very proud of our top 30 Garden Watchdog Rating. We work very hard every year to keep our customers happy with our quality plants and service."
Number and Prices of Catalogs: Multiple catalogs are sent each year and High Country Gardens does not charge for any of them. E-zines are also available and gardeners can sign up for these water-wise gardening tricks on the High Country Gardens Website.
How many exclusive to the company? An active breeding and selection program means that several exclusive plant cultivars are developed by High Country Gardens and this year 7 new exclusive plants were added to the catalog. All the photos featured on this article are exclusive introductions by High Country Gardens.
Any special features or focuses for the company? With a focus on earth-friendly gardens High Country Garden specializes in lawn-alternatives, xeric (water-wise) garden plants and pre-designed garden packages.
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