Solar Gardens and The Living Art Company is a unique Saskatchewan garden centre and experience created and operated by Roger Valliere and his partner, Chris. Specializing in succulents (and a few cacti), Solar Gardens incorporates their love of art and creativity while showcasing the natural beauty of succulent plants alone and in artistic arrangements and containers.

Chris prefers not to say how many years ago he first began collecting succulents, but he assures us that it was decadeS ago ("with a capital 'S'", he adds). While visiting Huntington Gardens in San Marino, California many years ago, he was intrigued by the bizarre and unique plants he eventually came to know as "succulents". He often jokes that if these plants would have even been mentioned in his university botany classes, Solar Gardens might have been born decadeS ago (again, emphasis on the 'S') rather than just a few years ago.

Like collectors of all things know, it all started with a single item, in this case a single succulent. And of course, like all collectors know, he found it hard to stop, enchanted by the beauty and variety of each species. Finding and collecting new and rare succulent varieties became an addictive hobby. Fascination with these beauties took him to many far away countries (including, but not limited to, the Netherlands, Spain, Italy, Brazil, and Australia) and he eventually began to import new varieties that were not commonly found in Canada. The collection slowly developed into one of the largest private collections in Canada, if not North America.

The collection became so large that when Roger got involved in the greenhouse industry, it seemed a natural next step for him to learn how to propagate and build a hobby greenhouse to care for these beautiful treasures.

This "hobby" greenhouse (although commercial size) was one of the first buildings they constructed on the current Solar Gardens acreage, a 50 acre property purchased in 1998. A wood fired pizza and bread oven, a summer kitchen and ceramic studio were constructed over the years, and commercial greenhouses have been added to house the ever-expanding collection. Chris and Roger's love of gardening has led them to the enjoyable and unending tasks of adding all things garden, such as a water garden, all types of fruit trees, a large lily collection, lasagna gardening, and a hardy perennial sempervivum garden (yes, hardy, even in this climate), to name a few. Elegant architectural elements, as well as the brand new (open April 1st, 2009) retail centre have been designed to complement the property.

When Roger started working as the grower for Day Grow Greenhouses in 1998, he encouraged the owners to carry succulents. Shortly thereafter, Roger and Chris also started to supply some local shops with plants from their collection. Roger discovered an artistic ability (although he would never admit to that) to create beautiful succulent arrangements and these were sold in local retail stores. He eventually offered classes in how to plant succulent bowl arrangements and hypertufa, while Chris explored his artistic side (and unlike Roger, he always loves to admit that he has one) through ceramics.

In 2005, Roger purchased a company selling hobby glass greenhouses known as Solar Gardens. Fusing their creativity in succulents and various forms of art with the hobby greenhouse business, the company was renamed Solar Gardens and The Living Art Company.

In 2007, Roger began to offer his classes on their acreage, and in 2008 they opened a retail centre at Solar Gardens. With a love of their home, their dogs and miniature angora goats, gardening, art and of course, succulents, they feel extremely fortunate to be able to work from home and share their various passions with others. They consider their home, the gardens, and their business a work in progress, and believe that the joy is in the creation and in sharing with others.

Chris and Roger have many interests and love learning new things all the time, and so they know they will have many new ideas and developments to share in the near future. Their interests in wood fired ovens (pizza and artisan bread baking), all forms of art, and plans to construct a large glass conservatory (currently sitting in crates in the backyard) with a spitfire grill, (to name just a few), means that there is much more to come, and a lot more for us all to look forward to.

As Roger always says, "Rome wasn't built in a day, and neither was Solar Gardens".

Chris and Roger would be honoured to have you visit and enjoy Solar Gardens with them soon.

PS - Stay tuned...