Learning About Victorian Greenhouses

 

The Victorians enjoyed doing things in a bold style to celebrate their successes in commerce and technology and this can often be seen in British civic buildings. During the Victorian the growth of the British Empire opened up trade in places far away from the small island and numerous examples of exotic plant species were brought back to the homeland by adventurous botanists. Hot houses were required to cultivate these plants and there appeared an upsurge in the number of large Victorian greenhouses similar to the example shown above.

Fond Memories

As a child I have three strong memories associated with greenhouses. The first is my fond memories of my great grandfathers greenhouse at the very back of his garden. His garden was in the traditional English style of the early 20th century having a mixture of typical country garden flowers, roses and fruit bushes and a huge apple tree with a small greenhouse growing the best tomatoes I have ever tasted.

My other two memories are more closely associated with Victorian greenhouses. In my formative years I lived in the seaside town of Southport in the north west of England, not too far from Churchtown and the wonderful Botanic Gardens (pictured in the next article). As well as a Victorian greenhouse the gardens also feature a fantastic little hot house tucked away in a little corner, if ever you get the chance to visit this area make a point of visiting this little time capsule.

Finally I come to my third memory which concerns a greenhouse in a friends back yard. His family had recently moved into a huge old Victorian house which had several floors and an extensive cellar. As kids we were quick to take advantage of this enormous expanse and we created a wonderful den. Although it was very interesting I found myself fascinated by the derelict greenhouse near to the cellar entrance. Like most Victorian greenhouses it was huge and of a rather complicated design vastly different to today's rather bland and functional designs.

Understanding the Victorians helps to understand the nature of a typical Victorian greenhouse. I am lucky as I can use my memories to recall other Victorian greenhouses but if you are planning something of this style for your own back yard then I strongly suggest that you look to Britain and the many public gardens for inspiration and enlightenment. The Victorians loved to create public gardens which often featured a hot house or green house. Typically huge, of sufficient size to grow tall tropical trees in most cases, the general design aspects remained similar and also appeared in smaller household garden greenhouses.

In the following article I take a closer look at the Victorian greenhouse and, as I thoroughly enjoy this topic, I may well return to it every once in a while.

See also:

Planting Around Victorian Greenhouses
This articles discusses the best way to design your garden, which plants, roses, shrubs & trees to use.

 

More articles about the greenhouse >

 

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