Have you ever wondered how you get some fruits and vegetables that only grow in winter in your summer season? Many of you don’t know how some ideal conditions are made to help a plant grow. These ideal conditions are made in greenhouses. A greenhouse or glasshouse is a building that is created in such a way that it helps the plant to grow in ideal condition, maintaining the desired heat or cold as per the plan in it and also other climatic conditions that are necessary for its growth.
In the history
A greenhouse is not a new phenomenon; it is being used since the 17th century; at that time, greenhouses were made up of normal bricks and timber by keeping adequate windows at some point. By the 19th century, the concept of greenhouse completely changed; this is because now it was possible to control the climate inside it. However, the glass was cheap by now, and it was also easy to build a greenhouse with glass and the adequate heating method by minimal use of bricks and metal. The Victorian era was the golden era of the greenhouse when the largest greenhouse/glasshouse was constructed.
Some of the huge greenhouses across the world
Preparing a greenhouse is not just getting it done in your backyard; there are some huge greenhouses that have got the world’s attention and are really very massive in size. Let us go through some of the largest and huge greenhouses:-
- Royal Greenhouses of Laeken
This Belgium based greenhouse is situated in the Royal Castle of Laeken in Brussels. It is a unique greenhouse that is staying on the ground since the 18th century. You can make a guess of how huge it is by the time taken to build this greenhouse. It took about 21 years to build. After its successful building, the greenhouses were open to the public in 1895 for the first time. The section of the building where the domed greenhouse was structured was known as an iron church; initially, the section was used as the Chapel of the royal family.
Are you planning to visit this place in the near future? Well, wait a minute, before you plan a trip, keep this in mind that this place opens for the public for just two weeks in a year. The makers open these greenhouses in the month of April- May when the flora of the region is on its full bloom. Do you have a guess about how many species of camellias are there? Well, if you are making a guess around 300, then you are correct because this greenhouse contains almost 305 species of camellias and 45 orange trees. The history of the place says that King Leopold once owned around 130 of orange trees, among which some of them were around 400 years old.
- Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden and Museum
In the year 1679, the record of the Garden was given to the Great Elector of Prussia, but it was passed on to the Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden in the 1900s. The first director of the Botanical garden was Adolf Engler, who’s dream was to create the world inside the Garden. It was hence that the Botanical Garden was Often known as ‘The world in a garden.’ What do you think about how many plants are there in this garden? If you are in hundreds, you are wrong because the garden contains around 20000 plants that include trees and flowers across the globe. You can also read about Weed Removal and Identification to learn more about the Greenhouse.
The garden is established in a way that it includes many statutes thaw are from the Italian garden, and also, the garden has a Cemetery as a tribute to those who helped in developing it. Since the garden is old in centuries, many of its developers are no more today, among those buried on the site include Adolf Engler and his wife Marie, George Schweinfurth, an ex-curator and African explorer. However, the botanical garden has something or another for everyone to see.
- Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden
The government of Finland has setup special greenhouses in the botanic garden, which is situated in Helsinki. You can make a guess of how huge this garden is by this that the gardens are a combination of ten interconnected structures which have variety of themes and environment in it. The garden includes African savannah, and a South American rainforest is also the part of this garden range. Many of the garden’s greenhouses are of glass-based glasshouse, which has a unique style of cultivation of plants in it. When a person is visiting this garden, they can experience a new country whenever they enter from one glasshouse to another.
The Botanical Garden also consists of a large gallery that is highly in use for temporary exhibitions that are based on the themes of nature. But the thing that can also shake your brain is that the Garden was originally situated in Turku in 1678, but the garden was migrated to Helsinki in 1829.
- Jardin Botanique de Lyon
There are many Botanical gardens in the country, but the famous among all of them is the Jardin Botanique in Lyon. The garden is one among the most visited tourist place among the nation. The garden is open every weekday, and anyone interested can visit it free of charge. There are approx 15000 plants on the ground of this garden, among which they also have 200 varieties of only water lilies. Are you a rose lover? How many of varieties of roses do you know? Two, three, okay ten, but do you know that there are 100 wild rose species in this garden.
In this vast garden stands a group of greenhouses which covers a massive area of around 6500 square meters. The greenhouses are designed in such a way that you will find many varieties of different flora on the walls of the glasshouse. Different types of greenhouse that this garden includes are:-
- A greenhouse aquarium
- Madagascar greenhouse and others
By now, it is visibly true that a greenhouse is not just that you have in your backyard or in your farm; they can be huge as of the size of your entire township too!