美国 High Country Gardens – 耐旱植物与可持续草坪替代品专业苗圃

High Country Gardens 由美国知名园艺学家 David Salman 与夫人 Ava 于1993年在新墨西哥州 Santa Fe 创立，是一家专注于可持续园艺与耐旱植物（xeriscaping）的专业邮购苗圃。David Salman 1979年毕业于科罗拉多州立大学园艺科学专业，1984年创办 Santa Fe Greenhouses，1993年创立 High Country Gardens 后向全美推广耐旱、本土、生境友好的观赏植物。他一生中向园艺产业引入超过60个新植物品种，1996年推出的 Agastache rupestris 和2010年获得专利的 Bouteloua gracilis Blonde Ambition 等成为耐旱园艺的代表性植物；2008年他获得 American Horticultural Society 颁发的 Great American Gardeners Award 奖项，并是科罗拉多州立大学与丹佛植物园合作项目 Plant Select 的创始成员。David Salman 于2022年6月5日辞世，但 High Country Gardens 仍是其园艺遗产的延续。

High Country Gardens 主营水智（waterwise）观赏植物与可持续草坪替代品两大类。草坪替代体系包括 Dog Tuff 耐踩草坪塞（zones 5-10）、Legacy Prestige UC Verde 三个 Buffalo Grass 布法罗草品种（zones 3-10）、Hachita Blue Grama 蓝格兰马草（zones 3-10）、Bella Bluegrass 蓝草（zones 4-8）、No Mow Lawn 含六种矮化细羊茅的低维护草坪（zones 3-7）、Low Work & Water Dwarf Fescue 矮化羊茅（zones 4-10）、Microclover 微三叶草系列（zones 3-8）等。这些产品相比传统 Kentucky Bluegrass 高羊茅草坪，每年可节水 30-40 英寸以上，所需修剪次数从16次以上降至 0-4 次，是美国西部和南部干旱区最受推荐的”反草坪”解决方案。观赏植物方面，苗圃提供多年生花卉、球茎、观赏草、Agastache 系列以及 Plant Select 项目推荐的西部耐旱品种。

苗圃承诺 Toughest Plants Guarantee —— 一年保证（full-year guarantee），对 potted plants、plugs、seeds、bulbs 等所有产品自寄出日起一年内提供一次免费补发或等价退款，前提是按苗圃的种植与养护指南进行栽培。苗圃同时是 American Meadows 的姐妹公司，部分品类可在两站之间互相推荐。苗圃秉承 Pioneers in Sustainable Gardening 的品牌理念，通过销售耐旱植物和草坪替代产品，减少家庭园艺用水量、恢复本土生境、支持传粉者和其他野生动物，将原本用于保持”绿油油”高维护草坪的水资源、肥料和能源消耗，转为对生态更加友好的多层次花园。

官网：https://www.highcountrygardens.com

High Country Gardens was founded in 1993 in Santa Fe, New Mexico by renowned horticulturist David Salman and his wife Ava, as a mail-order nursery specializing in sustainable gardening and xeriscaping (waterwise plants). David Salman earned a degree in Horticultural Science from Colorado State University in 1979 and launched Santa Fe Greenhouses in 1984. Through High Country Gardens, he introduced more than 60 new plant species to the nursery trade, including the celebrated Agastache rupestris (1996) and the patented Bouteloua gracilis Blonde Ambition (2010). He received the 2008 American Horticultural Society Great American Gardeners Award and was a founding member of Plant Select, a collaboration between Colorado State University and Denver Botanic Gardens promoting plants that thrive in the Great Plains and Intermountain West. David Salman passed away on June 5, 2022, but High Country Gardens continues his horticultural legacy.

High Country Gardens focuses on two major product lines: waterwise ornamental plants and sustainable lawn alternatives. The lawn replacement system includes Dog Tuff Grass Plugs (zones 5-10), three Buffalo Grass cultivars (Legacy, Prestige, UC Verde, zones 3-10), Hachita Blue Grama Grass (zones 3-10), Bella Bluegrass (zones 4-8), No Mow Lawn (a six-fine-fescue blend, zones 3-7), Low Work & Water Dwarf Fescue (zones 4-10), and Microclover series (zones 3-8). Compared with traditional Kentucky Bluegrass, these alternatives save more than 30-40 inches of water per year and reduce mowing frequency from 16+ times down to 0-4 times per year, making them the most recommended ditch-the-turf solutions for arid regions of the American West and South. The ornamental side of the catalog includes perennials, bulbs, ornamental grasses, the Agastache series, and Plant Select-recommended Western xeric varieties.

The nursery offers its Toughest Plants Guarantee, a full-year warranty covering potted plants, plugs, seeds, and bulbs, with one-time complimentary replacement or equivalent refund available as long as planting and care instructions were followed. High Country Gardens is a sister company of American Meadows, and the two brands cross-refer customers between their catalogs. Under the brand banner Pioneers in Sustainable Gardening, the nursery promotes drought-tolerant plants and lawn replacement products to reduce household garden water use, restore native habitat, and support pollinators and other wildlife, helping transform water-thirsty high-maintenance lawns into multi-layered, ecologically rich gardens.

Official website: https://www.highcountrygardens.com