ENTERTAINMENT THROUGH THE GARDEN GAT E


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THROUGH THE GARDEN GATE GARDENING UNDER GLASS


As the summer sun rises over Cleeve Cloud, and gardeners raise a sunlit smile all round, Camilla Bassett- Smith toasts an integral part of many a glorious garden – the greenhouse.


Gardening under glass is no botanical newcomer, wind back to the 17th and 18th centuries and the craze for collecting exotic plants grew dramatically and with it the need for practical protection for the newly acquired horticultural heat lovers. The passion for citrus from Spain gave rise to the Orangery where these sweet-scented specimens were showcased. I recently visited Hampton Court Palace Gardens and was honoured to view Queen Mary’s Exoticks (17th century spelling) National Plant Collection, including a graft from one of the original citrus from the 1600s! The plants were acquired from across the globe and today the team have been rebuilding the impressive collection which had been lost over the years. (Tune into ‘Alan Titchmarsh’s Gardening Club’ on ITV to hear more from Hampton Court)!


Grand glasshouses with incredible ironwork were soon popping up all over the British Isles from the Temperate House at Kew in 1863 – the world’s largest Victorian glasshouse, to Jospeh Paxton’s Great Conservatory at Chatsworth which began construction in the 1830s.


Of course, most of us do not live in palaces or estates which warrant an Orangery or grand glasshouse, however, it was not long until gardening under glass was in reach of the middle classes and from the middle of the 19th century, breakthroughs


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in glazing and heating, resulted in a huge increase in the number of manufacturers of ‘horticultural buildings’. Timber frames became fashionable, a return to which we see today, alongside the oh-so-popular aluminium frames.


From starting off your vegetable seedlings early, to ensuring excellent ripening of prized tomatoes or aubergines, there is nothing quite like having your own greenhouse. It can also double up as a cosy place to sit and enjoy summer evenings amongst your treasured plant collections.


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