My Favourite Conservatories
Greenhouses, hothouses, and glasshouses - portals to a botanical world
Today on the Flowerlogue…
Hi Flower Friends, so glad you are here and if you’ve stumbled across my newsletter, welcome! I’d be chuffed to share my flowers stories with you. It’s easy just click below.
This post is pretty short, it’s just full of images. For the best viewing experience, be sure to read this post on your desktop or via the substack app. By the way, all photographs in this story are taken by me or hubby G.
If you are new to my newsletter, hubby G and I are very fortunate to travel a lot for his work, more often than not to Europe and I very happily tag along. Our travel tends to be skewed - it’s far more direct for us to go from Perth, Australia, via Asia, then the Middle East, and into Europe. Which means I don’t often get the chance to visit the U.S., Canada and South America and its gardens or flower festivals, much as I’d love to (One day, Planterra Conservatory, Centennial Park Conservatory, El Nido de Quetzalcoatl I’ll be coming for you).
When we arrive in a big city, one of the things I do is to research where the botanic gardens are and in particular for conservatories, hot houses, glasshouses, and greenhouses - any of them - wherever we go. So today’s post is about my favourite (to date) conservatories. Unfortunately I have lots of videos (an old Instagram habit) which I can’t seem to upload, but I did manage to find more photographs than I expected once I started the iphone scroll.
There’s just something about stepping into a conservatory. Maybe it’s the sudden hush of outside noise, or the gentle, warm (or cool) reprieve from the weather outside. Or maybe it’s the miracle of it all - that life grows, no matter what the climate is outside, as long as you give it the right light and care - a botanical portal. Is it the surprise of what to find inside, a passionfruit flower in winter weather, carnivorous plants in a desert climate or a cacti garden in a tropical location?
So, today I’m not going to rabbit on much - even though this is technically a ‘writing’ platform. Instead, I’m sharing an album of greenhouse magic: photos taken by me and hubby G over the past couple of years as we’ve wandered through botanic gardens and stumbled upon glassy oases.
(Side note: is it just me, or are untagged photos - hmm borrowed - taking over Substack? I’m all for a visual diary, but throw in a tag, the photographer or at least where you found it and where/what it is? Rant over.)
What I also love - beyond the plants themselves - are the views and angles from inside these spaces, the spiral staircases, the hinged windows, perhaps the handmade glass panels, the intricate wrought iron. The way the world looks through misty panes or layered leaves. And then, of course, there are the butterfly houses too - a whole other type of enchantment. Even my husband loves to deviate off to a botanic garden at the first chance we get in a big city. Especially if there’s a conservatory involved and the weather has gone pear-shaped or the traffic sounds and buildings become too overwhelming.
So here are just a few of my favourites. The rest are buried.
Commercial Greenhouse - Fridheimar, Iceland
To be honest, the only commercial greenhouse I’ve been in is Fridheimar in Iceland. They just grow cherry tomatoes on a very large scale (6,000m2 +) for the Icelandic market. We came across it in a funny way. The night light glow from the greenhouses disturbed our northern light aurora from our clear igloo a kilometre away. A quick question from neighbouring guests, revealed the greenhouse that offered a restaurant and a tomato inspired menu.
Biggest Number of Conservatories 6! - Kew Gardens, UK
I didn’t realise how many conservatories there were until we arrived at Kew Gardens. 6 in total, the Palm House, the Temperate House, Princess of Wales Conservatory, the Waterlily House, Alpine House and the Davies Alpine House. My favourite of the day was the Palm House House, the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse, home to temperate plants from around the globe.
Coolest Display of Carniverous Plants - Glasgow Botanic Gardens, Scotland
The Kibble Palace, which is renowned for its teacup dome is a stunning curvilinular (say that quickly!) glasshouse which is home to the largest and coolest display of carnivorous plants I’ve ever seen. Including Venus flytraps, sundews - Drosera, and pitcher plants such as Sarracenia.
Closest to Home Greenhouse - The Calyx, Sydney
The Botanic Gardens of Sydney is home to The Calyx which proudly displays the largest green wall in the southern hemisphere, right in the heart of Sydney. It holds a number of themed exhibits every year featuring rare and unusual plants from all over the world.
The Tallest Green house I’ve Ever Been in - Estufa, Fria Lisbon, Portugal
Not the most beautiful, nor having the widest range of botanics, but a totally unexpected place (in the middle of the city) to find a conservatory, with a seriously tall roof and even a resident rooster and turtles.
The Most Public Conservatory - Changi International Airport, Singapore
The Discovery Garden at Changi International Airport has a gigantic water feature from the rooftop and a raised electric train track, transporting travellers from one terminal to another. It also has a butterfly garden to entertain you whilst you’re waiting for your flight. It has a cactus garden, however, someone decided to make it the smoking garden, so it’s totally ruined. And there’s the dreamscape which merges nature and technology.
Largest Greenhouse Complex - Gardens by the Bay, Singapore
This is not to be missed, all-day event. Voted the 8th best attraction in the world! The complex includes a supertree observatory, flower dome, floral fantasy and outdoor park, and a cloud forest which was opened in 2012. My personal favourite, the cloud forest, has the world’s tallest indoor waterfall, exotic plant species from around the world and unique aerial walkways.
My Favourite Waterlily Hothouse - Natural History Museum - Oslo, Norway
A small hothouse dedicated to the giant Victoria waterlilies. The flowers of the Victorian waterlilies last only 2 days, then turn pink and die. This was such a warm, welcome respite from the snow outside when I visited. Needless to say, I stayed for a while.
Of course, what’s missing here are the quaint, homey, delightful conservatories that we can find in castles, palaces and private homes all over the world. I look forward to exploring some of these in future travels.
For now, if you have a conservatory or recommend seeing a particular one, please share it with us all, I’d love to see it!
Very interesting I love to learn about plants and animals while travelling.
This is so stunning! This would make the loveliest coffee table book—Greenhouses around the world. I could look at these & dream about visiting them forever.