Highland, Illinois · about 30 minutes from the nursery
The working nursery Highland gardeners already drive to.
Highland grows serious gardens without a working retail nursery close to home. Sugarloaf is 40 acres of field-grown trees, perennials, and hostas about 30 minutes west in Edwardsville, and you’re welcome to walk every row before you buy.
Plant nursery near Highland
Where’s the closest working plant nursery to Highland, Illinois?
Sugarloaf Landscape and Nursery in Edwardsville is the closest working grower-retailer to Highland, Illinois, about 30 minutes west by I-70 or US-40. The nursery has grown its own stock since 1981, with 150,000+ plants on 40 acres, and the public is welcome to walk the fields and buy. Call (618) 692-0113 before you drive.
Highland has taken its gardens seriously since Swiss settlers laid the town out, and it still shows in the yards. What the town doesn’t have is a working nursery nearby: out east of the Edwardsville corridor, the in-town options come down to seasonal racks at the box stores, and those thin out fast. So Highland’s serious gardeners already make a habit of pointing the car west.
The trip is a straight shot. Half an hour on I-70 or US-40 puts you at a nursery where the plants are grown in the ground you’re standing on, not trucked in from another climate. Call ahead and we’ll tell you what’s in the rows before you leave Highland.
Two ways to use Sugarloaf
Make the drive, or have us make it instead.
Some Highland folks want to walk the fields and pick their own plants. Others want the whole yard designed, planted, and done. Both start with the same 40 acres.
Drive out and shop the fields
Walk 40 acres of trees, perennials, and hostas grown right where you buy them. Compare plants side by side, ask your questions, and take home the exact one you pointed at.
Plan your visit →Have us come to Highland
Our design and build crews take on Highland projects: new planting beds, foundation plantings, paver patios, full-yard installs. The plan is drawn around plants we actually grow, so nothing gets substituted at install time.
See the design process →★★★★★
“All the big box stores had nothing and the other independent nursery in town had a fair supply but the prices were ridiculously high. Checked out Sugarloaf and was glad I did. The prices were very reasonable for these healthy plants. The owner was very helpful too.”Susan M. · 5★ · Google
That review is the Highland story in miniature: when the box stores come up empty, the drive to a real grower settles it. Most first trips start with shade and ornamental trees you can pick out in person, and plenty end with a trunk full of perennials and hostas too. If hauling a tree back to Highland isn’t your idea of a good Saturday, ask about delivery and planting when you call.
Planting in Highland
What grows well in Highland’s zone 6b yards?
Highland, Illinois sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b, the same zone as Sugarloaf’s growing fields 30 minutes west in Edwardsville. Every tree and perennial in those fields has already lived through the same winters and heavy clay your yard has, so nothing you take home meets Illinois weather for the first time.
Timing matters as much as zone. University of Illinois Extension calls early September to mid-October the strongest tree-planting window in Illinois: warm soil for new roots, cooler air for the top of the tree. If you’re planning a fall planting in Highland, call in late summer and ask what’s coming ready for September.
Highland questions
What Highland folks ask before the drive.
The same answers you’d get if you called us today.
Is there a plant nursery near Highland open to the public?
Sugarloaf Landscape and Nursery in Edwardsville is the closest working nursery to Highland that welcomes the public, about 30 minutes west by I-70 or US-40. The plants are grown on-site across 40 acres, and you’re free to walk the rows, compare plants, and ask questions before you buy. Hours are weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays by appointment, Sundays closed. Call (618) 692-0113 before you head out.
Is Sugarloaf worth the drive from Highland?
Highland gardeners who make the 30-minute drive get something no seasonal garden rack offers: 150,000+ plants grown on the same 40 acres where you buy them, with prices kept reasonable because there’s no middleman between the field and your trunk. You pick the exact tree or perennial that goes home instead of taking what’s left on a rack. One trip usually settles the question.
Does Sugarloaf take landscaping projects in Highland?
Sugarloaf Landscape and Nursery takes on landscape design and build projects in Highland, from new planting beds and foundation plantings to paver patios and full-yard installs. The same fields that stock the retail nursery supply the projects, so your plan is drawn around plants that actually exist. Call (618) 692-0113, describe the project, and owner A.J. Kansal or the crew will talk you through the next step.
Point the car west and walk the fields.
About 30 minutes from Highland, straight out I-70 or US-40. Call first and we’ll tell you what’s standing in the rows this week. Weekdays 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. · Saturdays by appointment · Sundays closed. Also serving Troy, right on your way.