Rooftop garden growing in downtown Wichita

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH) - Something really cool is happening on top of one of the buildings in downtown Wichita.

Rise Farms is in full bloom on the roof of the Fidelity Bank building. The 15,000-square-foot working farm is a partnership between Fidelity Bank and Firefly Farms.

The farm has flowers, perennials, and vegetables. Eventually, there will be full fruit trees. The farm has a hoop house with a heater to allow vegetables to be grown year-round. A restaurant inside the Fidelity Bank building uses some of the vegetables grown on the roof.

Leah Dannar-Garcia operates Firefly Farms. She says in order to make it work, special soil has to be used to grow the produce.

“If we tried to put a topsoil or compost it would be way to heavy for the structure, so we’re using this very specialized non-soil growing medium,” she said.

Those behind Rise Farms hope to open for tours as soon as next month.

Copyright 2022 KWCH. All rights reserved.