Silver Sage Garden Center, Littleton

The gardeners at Silver Sage Garden Centers tend to a 10-acre jungle of trees, shrubs, and seasonal flora, from spring perennials to Christmas trees. They carefully curate greenery handpicked to thrive in Colorado's sometimes harsh weather conditions. Hardy Prospector elm and bur oak shade trees, for instance, dip their roots into most any type of soil and weather winters with the stoicism of lobotomized statues. Beyond the nursery, the green-thumbed staff cultivates flourishing flora in the yards of customers in the Denver area, planting about 1,000 trees each year. After securing plants in the soil, staffers dispatch essential advice on how to help the tree take root and thrive in its new habitat. They dispatch the same careful advice to all shoppers, whether they're seeking shrubs to border their yards or peonies and poppies to add color to berms. To entice customers to spend more time admiring their huge menagerie of blooms and foliage, they serve free cookies and cider, plus dishes of water for family chia pets.