Conservatory Craftsmen, a Minneapolis, Minnesota designer and builder of conservatories, greenhouses, and orangeries, has designed and built a custom botanical conservatory for a homeowner in Reno, Nevada, that lets the owner grow and enjoy plants year-round despite the region's climate, elevation, and short growing season. The company published a profile of the project, the Galena Canyon Conservatory, in the featured projects section of its website in September and updated it in early October.
According to the profile, the idea for the conservatory began with the homeowner's frustration with Reno's unpredictable growing conditions, including a late spring frost that damaged his outdoor plants. He wanted an indoor garden where he could raise plants and fresh food in every month of the year. The finished building also serves as a personal retreat and entertaining area, with a bar and gathering spaces that look out over the garden and the surrounding mountains.
The company describes supporting plants with different growing requirements as one of the project's greatest challenges. Rather than designing the building around a single crop, the team created several microclimates so that tropical and botanical specimens, vegetables, and succulents could each have the conditions they need under one roof.
"The owner wanted tropicals, orchids, succulents, and vegetables in the same building, and those plants do not want the same air. So we built several microclimates inside one structure rather than one climate for everything, and the garden has kept filling in ever since," said Jim Hewitt, owner of Conservatory Craftsmen.
The growing spaces combine a private botanical garden of rare and unusual specimens with productive beds. The profile lists a 250-year-old desert rose, tropical gingers brought in from Hawaii and Asian orchids that can grow several feet tall, together with an ebb-and-flow growing table for lettuce and areas set aside for tomatoes, cucumbers and other produce. Rolling planter tubs allow plants to be moved outdoors during the summer, and the garden was planned to keep maturing within the space over time.
The architecture draws on the Mountain West, with a timber-frame look that complements the surrounding landscape and the owner's existing home. According to the profile, large Douglas fir timbers form the interior trusses, and the steel structural elements are wrapped in Douglas fir so they read as solid timber, while stone on the exterior helps the building settle into its site. Each steel gusset plate carries a laser-carved design drawn from nature, including animals, plants, the sun, and the moon, and custom ceramic-painted glass depicts Mount Rose and a desert landscape, tying the indoor garden to the view outside.
Beyond the plants, the profile describes the conservatory as a place to gather. The owner uses it for card games and social events, and according to the project page, one gathering comfortably accommodated between 30 and 50 guests across the indoor and outdoor areas. A spiral staircase and custom artwork, including murals, complete the interior, and the layout keeps the surrounding mountain views in sight from the garden while protecting the plants inside.
"A late frost in Reno and a January night in Minnesota are the same problem from a plant's point of view. We design the glass, the heat and the air around the plants, and the room ends up comfortable for people as well," said Hewitt.
The Reno project joins a featured projects page that lists work in more than a dozen states, from private conservatories and greenhouses in Minnesota and Wisconsin to an orangery in New York, a restaurant conservatory in Maryland and a greenhouse restoration for the Queens County Farm Museum. The company also designs private botanical gardens for its conservatory clients, with plant selection led by Hewitt, a master gardener, and water and nutrient systems overseen by Dr. Alex Eilts, whose background is in water and nutrient transport in plants.
Conservatory Craftsmen was founded in 2001 by Jim Hewitt, who, according to the company website, has worked in the conservatory business for more than 30 years. His son Mike and daughter Evan later joined the business. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, the company designs and builds conservatories, orangeries, luxury greenhouses, garden rooms, deep winter gardens, and pool enclosures for homeowners, restaurants, and event venues across the United States, and also restores existing conservatories. Its structures can include automated climate controls that respond to rain and temperature changes and can be managed remotely.
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For more information about Conservatory Craftsmen, contact the company here:
Conservatory Craftsmen
Jim Hewitt
612-281-4985
sales@conservatorycraftsmen.com
