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Conservatory Growing Plant Resources
© Your Conservatory.co.uk 2005
Latest Conservatory Growing Plant Information The French botanist Jules Charles is attributed by many with the construction of the first really practical greenhouse in 1599 in Holland. The building was used to grow tropical plants for medicinal purposes, such as the Tamarind, used for curative potions. Conservatories of today are a far cry from the original glass houses of yesteryear. These were constructed primarily to protect exotic plants from the worst ravages of a British winter and were often found gracing only the magnificent of stately homes. A conservatory is no longer a separate building, an awkward appendage seemingly stuck on to an available wall. It is now a bespoke item, designed and constructed not only to suit individual budgets and tastes but as integral part of the property itself. At Versailles, the orangerie is more than 500 feet in length, 42 feet wide and 45 feet high. The lovely fragrance of orange blossoms must have been a compelling attraction for special parties held by the French court in the orangerie. Orangeries can be seen at many English country houses (e.g. Saltram House (OR1), Plymouth, Hampshire; Sezincote (OR2), Gloucestershire) and on the grounds of several royal palaces (e.g. Kensington Palace, London, OR3), as well as throughout Europe. In Boston, Massachusetts, Andre Faneuil, a well-to-do businessman, built the first known American greenhouse about 1737 mainly to grow fruit. George Washington built a pinery at Mount Vernon in Virginia in which he raised pineapples. A regency-era garden in Washington, D. C., Tudor Place (1644 31st St. NW, Georgetown), survives from 1805, and can be visited today. In addition to the historic house with its fine federal-period furnishings, the garden reflects numerous features found in gardens of the day on both sides of the Atlantic. The Tudor Place conservatory dates from the late eighteenth century. In the style of orangeries, it has three huge windows, and naturally, faces south.Numerous flowering shrubs are kept there during the winter. Another resident of the conservatory at Tudor Place is a sago palm (Cycas revoluta), said to be the third generation descendent of a plant purchased in Philadelphia in 1813. A primary motivation for the improvement of greenhouse design was the English penchant for the collection and study of botanic material from all over the globe. The earliest explorers brought back seeds and exotic species. The damp, chill English climate needed some alteration if these new species were to survive and flourish. Kew Gardens (officially the Royal Botanic Gardens at Kew) originally belonged to the royal family. Frederick, Prince of Wales, (son of George II and father of George III) and his wife, Princess Augusta, had a great interest in exotic plants. Their collection is the core of today's 40,000 varieties of plants at Kew. None of Kew's hothouses survive from the Georgian period. One regency-era building, which may have been partially an orangerie, was in a state of considerable disrepair when I last visited Kew. Resembling a Greek or Roman temple, it was slated for renovation, according to guides. Among the more familiar Kew buildings, the vast Palm House dates from 1844; one of the most recent additions to Kew is the Princess of Wales Conservatory, named in honor of Augusta, Princess of Wales, and Diana, Princess of Wales, who opened the new structure in 1987. By 1825, greenhouses were becoming increasingly common, many heated by furnaces. The purpose of the greenhouse is to extend the growing season or to replicate tropical growing conditions in colder northern climes. Not long ago, the Garfield Park Conservatory (Ill.) seemed beyond salvaging--it was old, needed refurbishing and had few patrons. Enter the guys with white hats. First, the Chicago Park District launched an $8 million capital improvement campaign. Then a task force of 80 community groups convened and developed the Garfield Park Conservatory Alliance, a nonprofit organization dedicated to developing and funding programs, visitor service and community relations at the conservatory. The alliance received its funding from the Lila Wallace-Reader's Digest Fund, which seeks to rejuvenate urban parks through creative partnerships. The St. Petersburg Conservatory is a music school in St. Petersburg, Russia. Its current full name is the Rimsky-Korsakov St. Petersburg State Conservatory (SPbGK); formerly it has also been known as the Petrograd Conservatory and the Leningrad Conservatory. It was founded in 1862 by the Russian pianist and composer Anton Rubinstein. It later became a centre of the New Russian school of composition, led by Rimsky-Korsakov. In 2004, it had around 275 members of staff and 1400 students. The regency era, whether one confines the definition strictly to 1811-1820 or, more broadly, to the French Revolution to Victoria period 1789-1837, was truly a time of transition in enhanced plant cultivation indoors. When it began, traditional orangeries were popular and when it ended, rooms built of delicate iron ribs holding curvilinear walls and roofs of glass had captured the fancy of all society. In her book Regency Gardens, Mavis Batey writes, "There was a new connection between house and garden through conservatories and flower corridors; interior decoration and trellised verandahs complemented each other; fluted curtains, flowerstands and flouncing shrubberies matching the elegance of Regency costume." (p.5)
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