HPEC NATIVE PLANT NURSERY
WHY WE GROW NATIVE PLANTS
Native plants offer many things that foreign ornamental plants simply cannot. Not only do these plants have deep ecological relationships with each other and with wildlife, they are born of our unique climate! That means that plants native to our region have what it takes to survive and thrive through our challenging seasons while also attracting and supporting wildlife like pollinators. If that isn’t enough, many of these plants are in desperate need of conservation themselves! When you plant native you restore ancient relationships, save precious resources, and conserve the natural legacy of our region!
Explore all the categories of native plants we offer at the HPEC nursery:
Conservation Concern
Xeric
Shrubs & Subshrubs
Grasses
Ground Covers
Rock & Crevice Garden
Rare / Specialty
Moist To Mesic
Shade Tolerant
Alternative Lawn
Autumn Interest
View All
HOW TO BUY NATive pLAntS AT HPEC
Plant sale runs from April – September
All of our plants are available through our online order system. The 3 step process is simple and efficient.
Place your order online via the link below
Wait for an email notification that your plants are ready
Pick up plants in person at HPEC
Pickup location: On the south side of the building you will find a small greenhouse. Orders will be labeled with your name, alphabetized by last name. Pickup is self-serve.
Provides food and habitat for pollinators
Uses less water and helps with conservation
Requires less maintenance and easy to care for
In the early years of HPEC staff was traveling around Colorado speaking about the benefits of replacing exotic landscaping with native plants. As listeners got on board with the idea the next logical question was: “Okay, I’d like to start a native garden. Where do I get the plants?” We found that there was a huge gap in sourcing native plants. Most nurseries didn’t carry any native plants at all, or if they did it was only a handful of species. We set out to make native plants accessible to the Northern Colorado market.
HOW WE SOURCE OUR SEEDS
Nursery staff work with a variety of landowners and organizations to collect wild seed from a diversity of populations whenever possible, and with vendors to source seeds when wild collection is not feasible. Seed is always collected responsibly and with respect. Some of these plants have been grown and reintroduced into our own park and gardens to have as a living “seed bank”.
READY ROOTS
Our nursery pots are 5 inches deep and 2 ⅜ inches square. The depth of these pots creates a greater roots to vegetation ratio. The open bottoms allow the roots to “air-prune” instead of becoming root bound, so that you receive a plant with a vigorous roots and a large quantity of root tips ready to quickly establish and thrive in your planting.
PESTICIDE FREE
Our plants are grown with the intention of returning to native ecosystems, that means pesticides are not an option in HPEC nursery stock. Instead, we look to nature for solutions. We rely on natural predators to common pests to achieve health and pest free plants. Tiny parasitoid wasps, lacewings, ladybugs, assassin bugs, mantids, microscopic nematodes, even beneficial fungi are all part of our arsenal.
PRICING
As a 501(c)(3) our pricing is based on the mission first. That means meeting production costs, not making a profit. In other words, we want to help you get more biodiversity for less!
