Garden of Beauty, Cooper and LeeAnn Shelton

Although Cooper and LeeAnn Shelton started their gardening adventures in Sublette County only a year ago, they have sparked the curiosity of many travelers going to Jackson with the glowing green lights emanating from their large greenhouse near the Rim Station on Highway 191 in the dark of winter. A large group of Sage and Snow Garden Club members took a field trip to the greenhouse last week and honored the new gardeners with its prestigious Garden of Beauty Award. The 42- by 120-foot greenhouse may be the largest in Sublette County, and although it is fully automated with its computer-controlled lighting, heating, irrigating and fertilizing systems, it is a full-time job for Cooper and LeeAnn to plant, monitor and harvest the hundreds of plants growing indoors. Salad greens and herbs are grown hydroponically in rock wool fiber pods nested in pop-out rails with a circulating water/fertilizer solution.