Spring is in the air in Cheyenne as the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens rev up for another intense but all-too-short summer season. In the conservatory, spring fever begins in February as the stained-glass show opens. The conservatory fills with stained glass panels surrounded by fragrant flowering plants. A slew of visitors brave the cold to enjoy images of elk and roses, eagles and roadsters. As a horticulturist at the gardens, I quietly plant the first of next summer’s seedlings with the help of our many volunteers. Winter is a quiet time, when only the hardiest tourists walk the grounds or even make it inside to enjoy the lush warmth of the solar-heated and solar-powered conservatory/greenhouses. As the wind begins to subside, and the ground thaws, we prep the flower and vegetable beds and plant this

Staffed mostly by volunteers, the

Cheyenne Botanic Gardens are the

pride of this Wyoming city

Sue Whetten

year’s new trees and shrubs. Fifty thousand bedding plants, mostly annual flowers, are grown from seed in the greenhouses. The volunteers harvest the last of the greenhouse vegetables as tray after tray of flowers fills up the space. Finally, by the end of May we double check the weather and begin prepping beds and planting annuals outside. How we accomplish this, and why, is testament to the close relationship between the Botanic Gardens and its community. Cheyenne is a city of about 54,000 people, much smaller than most cities with botanic gardens. There isn’t an admission fee to the gardens to offset expenses. The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens survive here because the community supports it, and just as importantly, because the Gardens serve the community.

Wayne Herzog working among the perennials. With only six staff, the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens rely heavily on volunteers.

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A BOTANIC GARDEN ON THE HIGH PLAINS? Cheyenne sits on the High Plains against the Rocky Mountains. The elevation is over 6,000 feet, with only 13.3 inches of rain a year. But wait, it gets worse! We are number one in the nation for hailstorms, averaging 10 storms a year. The average daily wind speed is 13 miles an hour, but I can vouch for many calm summer days. To reach our average, the wind howls during the winter, driving us indoors to work in the conservatory. When the ground thaws a little, we drag hoses from the building to water trees and shrubs that are desiccating from the wind. Despite the climate, 30 years ago our director, Shane Smith, was part of a group that started a greenhouse to provide fresh food for the poor. This morphed into the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, where providing food for our volunteers, for the community, and for food banks is still a part of our mission. Over the years we also have expanded our vision to include testing and demonstrating landscape plants that can survive in our harsh climate. The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens cover 10 acres, including a new children’s garden. The conservatory is filled with tropical plants, bonsai and orchid collections, and a cacti garden. Our grounds have a beautiful rose garden, an herb garden, a cottage garden, a rock garden, two community gardens, and a labyrinth. On the north end of the grounds are The Century Plazas, which are divided into three historic landscapes. Each one demonstrates the relationship

of people and plants in Southeast Wyoming during the last three centuries. Our Peace Garden, with its inspirational quote stones, is a popular location for weddings, and the Glade alongside Discovery Pond and Wetlands hosts three free performances a year. We are a city-run agency with a full-time staff of only six. Residents of Cheyenne have generously supported the Botanic Gardens by donating to the Friends of the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens Foundation, a non-profit organization. The private foundation and the city agency have a unique partnership that few other groups have matched. The foundation has raised more than $6 million in the past 15 years to build all new landscapes on the grounds. As part of our commitment to the city, the staff and volunteers not only take care of the 10 acres within the gardens, but also plant and maintain more than 60 annual flower beds throughout the city using most of the 50,000 annuals that we grow in the spring. Each summer we try new plants in creative combinations. For 30 years we have been perfecting the art of doing more with less. Our passive solar greenhouse keeps expenses down using free heat from the sun. Our “cool” greenhouse stays above freezing during the coldest winter nights. Even though it is cool in the morning, by the afternoon I work in shortsleeves, while one of our favorite volunteers, Annie, looks for jobs that get her away from the 90°F greenhouse. As the sun pours in, solar panels on the roof collect enough energy to run 50% of our office’s electrical needs.

The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens

sponsor many types of programs for the

community, including fun activities for

children.

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BEAUTY ON THE HIGH PLAINS Hidden behind an evergreen hedge is the entrance to the Cheyenne Botanic Gardens. Visitors often gasp as they come around the corner and are greeted by a wall of color. We create a tall and riotous mass of color with dozens of different annuals. One of my favorites is a Dr. Seuss-looking plant called Lion’s Tail (or Lions-Ear, Leonotis Leonurus). It grows 9 feet tall with a series of orange flower balls growing right around the stem. It looks down on its neighbors, even the tall Sungold sunflowers and the broomcorn. Growing through and around it is Love-Lies-Bleeding (Amaranthus caudatus), Celosia, and Wave petunias (Petunia x hybrida). Mexican sunflowers (Tithonia spp.), with their orange daisy-like flowers draw dozens of butterflies to the annual beds. Hummingbirds visit the salvias and the cardinal vines. Very few Hybrid Tea roses are represented in our garden. While they are the darling of the trade, and a favorite on Valentine’s Day, they are not tough enough for Cheyenne. We think of them as expensive annuals. Instead, we focus on the hundreds of beautiful roses, many of them heirloom roses (pre-1940) or roses developed in Canada. They provide a stunning array of color and fragrances without having to be babied. The Bedont Rose Garden peaks in mid- to late-June. Over 150 roses come into bloom at the same time. Some continue to bloom throughout the summer, but others are old-fashioned roses like the Gallicas that only bloom once a year. Gallicas and Albas are large shrubs, growing about 6 feet by 6 feet even in Cheyenne’s harsh climate. Once their flowering is done they develop showy

large red hips. Repeat bloomers like the Jens Munk roses and Morden Blush roses have multi-petaled blooms that continue until the first hard frost. Native plants thrive in the 1700’s Century Plaza Garden, which demonstrates plants that were on the prairie before Cheyenne was settled in the late 1800s. The native plants rarely have broad leaves that would be shredded in the wind and hail. Sages protect themselves from the climate with narrow leaves that have a reflective silver-blue tinge. Wyoming’s state flower, the orange-flowered Indian paintbrush (Castilleja linariaefolia), has a semi-parasitic relationship with the buffalo grass (Buchloe dactyloides) that grows alongside it. Underground, the paintbrush’s roots have melded with the grasses’ roots, allowing it to steal nutrients from the grass.

THE PAUL SMITH CHILDREN’S VILLAGE Children and their families have been enjoying the Botanic Gardens since we first opened, but the Botanic Gardens have been mostly a “look, but don’t touch” experience. Starting in June children will have a garden of their own, The Paul Smith Children’s Village. The site was originally a project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), an employment and training program during the Great Depression. It’s a beautiful sandstone building surrounded by a sandstone walls built in the 1930s. Soon, inside these walls children will grow crops, or explore marshlands and prairies. When this garden opens in the summer, we hope to link the ideas of responsible stewardship of our environment to fun and beauty.

An active horticulture therapy program with waist-high beds enables volunteers in wheelchairs to tend the plants. Patients from the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center volunteer while practicing skills that help in their rehabilitation and speed their recoveries.

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The concept of sustainability has been integral to the Botanic Gardens since we opened our doors in 1977. We use low-toxicity pesticides whenever possible, create our own compost, and rely on solar energy. Our “greenness” and conscientious cost savings have allowed us to exist in such a small city. Soon we will teach sustainability to the families that visit the Paul Smith Children’s Village. Fortunately, we had a top children’s garden designer, Herb Schaal, create the garden for us. Even before it was built, it won two national awards for design. Within the ¾-acre site there will be a secret garden reached by passing through a small maze, a prairie with tipis, a Mother Goose reading area, working windmills, wind generators, vegetable gardens, art and craft areas, and whimsical sculptures. There will be mystery paths, microscopes and telescopes, hand-powered water pumps, sustainable structures, water features, and more. The large vegetable garden will be watered, weeded, and harvested by small hands. For some, it will be their first opportunity to pick a cherry tomato off the vine and pop the sun-warmed fruit into their mouth. They will also learn the difference between plants we eat and plants we don’t. Director Shane Smith says, “A children’s garden fosters independence and self-esteem through imagination and exploration. Children can enter a world of discovery and learn about the rhythms of life and the science and miracles that are behind them.” A working farmer’s windmill will pump water up from the ground, where children can follow it as it runs through flow forms and a water wheel to the pond and marshes. Shallow marshy areas will be easily explored. While it looks adventuresome, the water is only 2 inches deep in the marshes. Stepping stones and a wooden walkway lead through the marsh near two small waterfalls. Understanding solar power is difficult for small children. A solar oven that cooks treats will provide an easy way to experience the sun’s energy at work.

VOLUNTEERS AND HORTICULTURAL THERAPY We work with three main groups of volunteers:seniors, young people, and the disabled. These individuals do the vast majority of the physical labor on the grounds. When a volunteer works for the Botanic Gardens, they quickly realize that their help is crucial to the running of the gardens. Our volunteer laborers work alongside horticulturists to keep the gardens planted, weeded, and maintained. The majority of our volunteers are retired and love to garden. Working at the gardens keeps them physically active and provides a circle of new friends. Social agencies also use the gardens to help their clients develop work skills that they can take to a paying job. Middle school and high school students volunteer while working on special programs for school clubs, or to meet scholarship requirements. Other students are sent to us

At the Discovery Pond a zig-zag walkway leads one over the shallow waters to the gazebo at its end.

A youngster checks out new lettuce plants growing in the solar-heated greenhouse.

Camera in hand, a visitor captures images in the Cottage Garden.

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The Cheyenne Botanic Gardens are directly across the street from the Frontier Rodeo grounds. They are located in Lions Park, the premier city park in Cheyenne, about 2 miles north of the state capitol.

Hours: Monday-Friday, 8:00-4:30; Weekends, 11:00-3:30; the grounds are open during daylight hours. Admission is free.Cheyenne Botanic Gardens, 710 South Lions Park Drive, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82001, 307–637–6458, botanic.org.

by Cheyenne’s Youth Alternatives program. It gives young people a chance to work with us for a day or two to help them change negative behaviors. As a result, they are able to explore new, more appropriate behaviors that help them recognize their strengths and to see the world as less hostile. The American Horticultural Therapy Association defines horticultural therapy as “a process utilizing plants and horticultural activities to improve social, educational, psychological and physical adjustment of persons, thus improving their body, mind, and spirit.” Rather than “making work” by planning special activities for volunteers, we practice daily therapy while doing meaningful and needed work that keeps the Botanic Gardens operational. While activities are tailored to individual’s abilities, they are jobs that have to be done. Working with a staff person or with a group of volunteers allows impaired individuals to do a wider range of jobs than they would feel comfortable doing on their own. This builds self-esteem and heals the body and spirit. Patients of the Acute Rehabilitation Unit from the Cheyenne Regional Medical Center volunteer while practicing skills that help in their rehabilitation and speed their recoveries. Last summer, a patient helped us deadhead plants just four days after her hip replacement operation. Patients help us plant raised beds, or prune roses, or clean up potted plants. A long-time volunteer, Joan, came back to

us from the Rehab Unit just five days after she had a stroke. She may be feeling a bit frail, but we give all volunteers a chance to provide useful services to the gardens.

VISITING THE GARDENS During the spring and summer, visitors arrive at the gardens with questions for the staff. These can be as simple as identifying a plant on the grounds, or as difficult as diagnosing a disease they have on a houseplant. Troubled plant owners bring us cuttings of their sick plant, or photos, or just describe the problem. Most of the time, we can provide a useful answer. Our director shares gardening tips weekly on a local radio station and answers call-in questions. In its 29th year, his show is the longest-running radio show in Cheyenne. A common question I am asked in the conservatory is: “Can I grow this tropical Angel’s Trumpet in my backyard?” Sorry folks. Even if it lives through the wind and hail, it will die with the first frost. One of the perks to working at the gardens is the interaction with the visitors. Almost every time I take a crew outside to work, someone stops by to tell us what a great job we are doing. When was the last time a stranger popped her head into your office to say that you were doing a great job? Those compliments make all the hard work seem well worth it.

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