The Betty Ford Alpine Gardens Award for Excellence goes to AlpineGarden.com

In 1981, Jon Harrington started Arborcare, a tree service and landscape business in Summit County, Colorado.

His background as City Forester for San Antonio, TX and Horticultural Supervisor of the San Antonio Riverwalk helped him accomplish projects of considerable difficulty and scale. Soon after the landscape business began, it became obvious that a nursery full of hardy perennials was necessary.

Sherie Sobke took over sales in the nursery in 1985, while Jon worked on developing the landscaping end of the business. In 1986, the name was changed to Alpine Gardens, as it was a better reflection on what the business provided as a whole.

Our service over the years has grown to include a maintenance division, an irrigation division, wholesale plant division, a full service nursery, landscaping design and installation. During the Christmas holidays, we sell the only native fresh-cut trees in the Summit County area as well as wreaths, garland and plantation trees.

We now offer an expanded nursery business with the larger space at 998 Blue River Parkway, an indoor plant business, both maintenance and sales, and a wholesale division to fill a much needed niche in the rapidly expanding Western Slope.

New in 2004 is a waterscape division. Building on our experience designing and installing water features since 1984, we are now adding natural hot water spas to further emphasize our landscapes as outdoor living areas.