Winter Gardens Glasshouses and Indoor Plant Collections – Garden Visits for a cold or wet winter’s day!
The Oxford dictionary defines winter gardens as a noun. A winter garden is either a garden of plants, such as evergreens, that flourish [outside] in winter. Alternatively, it is a conservatory or glasshouse in which flowers and other plants are grown during winter.
Winter Gardens Glasshouses and Indoor Plant Collections – Garden Visits
These indoor winter gardens were largely instigated in the nineteenth century, by those plant collectors par excellence who flourished, particularly, but not exclusively, in Britain. They were helped along by the great strides that were taking place in the manufacturing of both glass and cast iron as part of the Industrial revolution; and by the dropping (or should that be smashing?) of the window tax. Filled with tropical plants they offer a sheltered place to enjoy a garden away from the frost outside.
Lush planting of palms and cacti; higher light levels and warmer temperatures make such glass houses a welcoming location on cold winter days. There were more of these Winter Gardens that were open to the public found in the northern areas of Britain. Which would make sense; greenhouses are used to extend the growing season of borderline hardy plants and to enable the cultivation of tropical species that would not survive the cold wet winters that Britain enjoys. Some of these glass house winter gardens survive today.
The winter gardens in Sunderland have a botanical collection of over 2000 plants from around the world. Their extensive collection includes many important food plants, for example, tea, coffee, citrus and date palms. These latter two are traditional Christmas fare – who doesn’t have an orange in their stocking and who can remember being told off for spitting date stones into the fire on Boxing Day? They have a fairly impressive water sculpture too…
The Peoples Palace in Glasgow is another nineteenth century Winter Garden, set in the fifteenth century Glasgow Green, the oldest public space in Glasgow. Duthie Park in Aberdeen was originally opened in the 1880s, and the Winter Garden glasshouses, destroyed by storms in 1969, and subsequently rebuilt, now house the second largest collection of cacti and bromeliads (air plants) in Britain; second only to the Eden Project. Duthie Park Arid House also has a talking cactus…
There are more modern versions too, built in the last hundred years. One of the most spectacular must be that in Sheffield, big enough to host some 5,500 domestic greenhouses inside its wood and glass. It doesn’t have greenhouses inside a greenhouse, of course, what a waste of space that would be when there are 2500 plants all in need of a home!
Winter Gardens Glasshouses and Indoor Plant Collections – or Not…
But there are indoor Winter Gardens which, whilst they may have a potted palm, are more noted for their theatrical and musical entertainment. Blackpool predates most of the rest, having been open since 1878; and many famous names have performed there over the years.
If you prefer outdoors, then there are still winter gardens to enjoy. All of the arboreta (tree collections) are worth visiting during the winter; they often have other plants of winter interest as well as trees: for example, Dunham Massey has vibrant red Cornus; whilst, still on the red theme, Lowther Castle in Cumbria can offer you red squirrels. Outdoor winter gardens are worthy of their own blog, so we’ll look at those in more detail another time.
So whatever you fancy, there’s a winter garden to suit your mood. There’s even a town called Winter Garden in Florida.
If you would like some garden design advice, so your winter garden looks like a wonderland, get in touch.
And if you’d like a gardening course on using your greenhouse to the full, learning more about your garden and gardening, why not ask about our bespoke Gardening Lessons, where your classroom is actually your own garden. We can help you learn gardening basics, carry out worm and other experiments and also show you how to plan an ornamental border or kitchen garden.
And for further gardening advice and inspiration, check out Plews Potting Shed blogs, including the selection below and our monthly Tipsheet – You could come and find us on Instagram Pinterest and Facebook too.
