 Solar
Conservatory and Offices
"Gardening is the
art that uses
flowers and plants as paint,
and the soil and sky as canvas."
- Elizabeth Murray
The Cheyenne Botanic Conservatory was built in 1986. It was based
on the Cheyenne Community Solar Greenhouse structure occupied east of Cheyenne
from 1977 to 1986 which was the first large-sized solar heated greenhouse built
in the country. In addition to the structure being solar heated, 50% of the
electricity is generated by solar photovoltaic power.
Click here to learn more about our solar energy
systems.
The Solar Conservatory houses our administrative offices, library, a small
meeting room with kitchen, and a root cellar where we store seeds, produce and
more.
Plantings of the Solar Conservatory
Because this space is
100% solar heated the planting schedule is adjusted to the indoor
environment rather than having the environment adjust to the plantings as with
traditional greenhouses. The Conservatory has three sections: East, West, and
the Center section.
The Center section is primarily for education where we grow tropical plants
important in everyday life including bananas, coffee, figs, bamboo, etc. In
addition you will find demonstrations of herbs, water plants, cacti and
succulents, bonsai, and orchids. Something is always in bloom even on the
coldest days of winter
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Bedding
Plants being
grown for City Parks |
The East and West sections grow primarily food crops from July through February.
The food is distributed to our volunteers and what is left over goes to local
feeding programs. You may also see a smattering of cut flowers that are for
in-house bouquets and also for distribution to volunteers. From March through
June these houses grow over 50,000 bedding plants from seed which are then
planted out into over 85 flower beds on both the Botanic Gardens grounds as well
as all the city park flower beds. Both Botanic Garden flower beds and City Park
beds are maintained by the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens staff and volunteers.
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