It’s hard to believe that London’s Kew Gardens started life as a mere six-acre plot in the back of a former palace. Today, it’s home to some of Britain’s most famous glasshouses, with more than 50,000 plants within 300 acres of land, and a history that stretches back more than 250 years. Its Temperate House is the largest Victorian glasshouse in the world, housing everything from gorgeously vibrant South African pink trumpet flowers, to the ultra-rare Australian magenta lilly pilly. Visitors can climb its elaborate spiral staircases to gaze down at the temperate plants from above too.
Frankfurt’s Palmengarten is a wonderful fusion of old and new. The Palm House (pictured), built in 1869 to house the Duke of Nassau’s tropical plant collection, owes its grandeur to the glass palaces of London and Paris which were the inspiration for its design. Meanwhile, the straight lines and sharp angles of the Tropicarium hark back to the decade of its construction, the 1980s. This striking glasshouse is constructed in the shape of multiple adjoining stars: the “north star” is filled with plants from humid regions, while the “southern star” covers dry tropical regions.
The Conservatory of Flowers is a little different to most greenhouses: it has a wooden frame, rather than an iron one. In fact the structure, located in San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, is the oldest public wooden conservatory in America. In the Aquatic Plants Gallery, dinner plate-like water lilies, lotus plants and orchids stand at the edge of ponds, while the Highland Tropics area emulates the climate of tropical mountains, with tree ferns and thick mosses.
In total contrast to the traditional Victorian glasshouses found at many botanical gardens, plants at Muttart Conservatory are housed under glass pyramids. Located on the south side of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton, this modern conservatory features more than 700 plant species, housed within three climate-specific biomes: tropical, arid and temperate. It also showcases temporary art exhibits and installations, and hosted the Freewill Shakespeare Festival 2021.
Sydney Harbour makes an exceptional setting for the city’s Royal Botanic Garden, a sprawling 27-hectare site with indoor and outdoor spaces. While its pyramid-shaped glass greenhouse was demolished in 2015, a new, cutting-edge attraction called The Calyx was unveiled a year later to replace it. This modern, arc-shaped greenhouse contains one of the largest “green walls” in the Southern Hemisphere, a living wall containing more than 18,000 plants, while regular events include talks from horticultural experts, floral displays and stargazing shows.
Located next to the Bronx Zoo, the New York Botanical Garden was established in 1891 and its gorgeous Victorian glasshouse, the Enid A. Haupt Conservatory, was completed 11 years later. Today, visitors enjoy the diverse mix of palm species contained within the conservatory’s central Palm Dome, from the Seychelles stilt palm with its unusual stilt-like roots, to the Cuban “old man palm”, named for its huge mass of hairs which look almost like a bushy beard.
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A green oasis in the heart of Norway’s capital, The Oslo Botanical Garden, part of the University of Oslo Natural History Museum, has more than 5,500 types of plants within its 6.5-hectare grounds. Highlights include the Palm House (pictured), which dates back to 1868 and charts the evolution of plants over millennia, and the Victoria House, showcasing water lilies and rainforest plants.
The grand Kibble Palace at Glasgow Botanic Gardens wasn’t actually built here. In fact, the greenhouse started life at the home of John Kibble, an eccentric entrepreneur who had it built as a private conservatory. In the early 1870s it was painstakingly moved, reconstructed and enlarged at the Botanic Gardens, where it opened in 1873. Today, the wrought iron-framed glasshouse contains Scotland’s National Collection of tree ferns alongside temperate and tropical plants.
A haven for mid-century design enthusiasts and gardening fans alike, Denver Botanic Gardens’ Boettcher Memorial Tropical Conservatory is the only conservatory in the US made from cast-in-place concrete. With its diamond-panelled design, the 11,500-square foot (1,068sq m) 1960s landmark is certainly eye-catching. It’s home to an amazing range of plants from tropical and subtropical regions including many palm species, banana plants and cacao plants.
With a series of palatial domes interconnected by glass walkways and filled with trees and flowers, the Royal Greenhouses of Laeken are almost like a miniature glass city. Designed in 1873 by architect Alphonse Balat for King Leopold II, the intricate complex of greenhouses was meant to harmonise with Laeken Castle, in which grounds they sit. This regal gem is only open to the public for three weeks each year, usually in spring.
Sprawling across 43 acres of Dahlem (a suburb in the southwest of the German capital), the dazzling Berlin-Dahlem Botanical Garden is crowned by a majestic conservatory: the Tropical Greenhouse. This glass-and-steel, Art-Nouveau masterpiece, which was built in 1907 and restored in 2009, towers above the surrounding conservatories and is home to an abundance of tropical flora and fauna, from climbers to tall trees and African “living stones”.
London’s Barbican Estate divides opinion with its Brutalist architecture. But few can argue with the tranquil beauty of its Conservatory. The multi-floor concrete terraces form the perfect window boxes for all manner of plants to spill out of (or indeed climb up). Among the biodiverse mix are fern trees, date palms and Swiss cheese plants; a large collection of succulents and cacti; and ponds containing koi, ghost and grass carp.
Built in Germany and shipped to Adelaide in 1875, the Palm House is one of Adelaide Botanic Garden’s main attractions. With its stained glass panels and hanging glass walls, the design was seen as extremely cutting-edge for its time. Thanks to a recent restoration in 2018, it continues to enthral visitors with its collection of Madagascan plants. Another highlight is the Bicentennial Conservatory, a newer addition built in 1988, with a tropical rainforest thriving under its modern, curved roof.
The Victorian conservatory at Belfast’s Botanic Gardens was one of the earliest curved cast-iron glasshouses in the world, with construction beginning in 1839. Painted white in order to prevent the plants from overheating, the colossal greenhouse contains some 8,000 panes of glass. Inside, it’s an explosion of colour, with begonias, fuchsias, geraniums and many more blooms providing a rich array of sights and smells.
There’s a fantasy-like sense of wonder in Singapore’s Gardens by the Bay. Situated on the Marina Bay Waterfront, the nature park is home to the world’s largest glass greenhouse, the Flower Dome. As you might expect it fosters a whole rainbow of blooms under its domed roof, as well as succulents, towering baobab trees and even a 1,000 year-old olive tree. Meanwhile the Cloud Forest (so-called for the cloud-like mists that keep the exotic plants fed) has some incredible views from its aerial walkways.
There’s not one, not two, but ten different greenhouses at Montréal Botanical Garden. From the humid temperatures and swishing leaves of the Ferns Greenhouse to the dry climate and myriad cacti of the Arid Regions Greenhouse, there are spaces dedicated to plants from all over the world. Meanwhile in the gardens, a whole host of stunning floral statues take centre stage.
Named after its co-founder Mrs Nongnooch Tansacha, Southeast Asia’s premier botanical garden, which opened in 1980, is marked out by Thai-style buildings, orchid nurseries and native tropical species. The aptly-named Garden in the Sky glasshouse is a high-ceilinged structure, with hanging ferns seemingly cascading from the skies and tall palms frequently obscured by mists (which nourish the plants). A second storey, reached by the stairs or elevator, allows visitors to gaze down at the displays from above.
Recognisable for its wooden-arched conservatory, Sheffield’s Winter Garden in the north of England is one of the biggest (and best) modern greenhouses in the UK. Its design, created by architects Pringle Richards Sharratt, was inspired by 19th-century shopping galleries in Milan and Naples, with a series of adjoining arches in a concertina-like fashion. Inside, a canopy of trees, ranging from palms to eucalyptus to pines, creates a series of forested walkways.
Home to one of the largest collections of orchids at any public garden in the world, Atlanta Botanical Garden’s Fuqua Orchid Centre is a spectacular mosaic of these vibrant blooms. Meanwhile, in the Dorothy Chapman Fuqua Conservatory, visitors can catch live displays of some of the most endangered amphibians on the planet. The Garden’s busy events calendar also includes immersive art displays, kids’ story-time sessions and drawing classes.
Offering a welcome retreat from Helsinki’s chilly temperatures, the comparatively balmy greenhouses at Kaisaniemi Botanic Garden are one of the city’s prime attractions. There are 10 glasshouses in total, each with their own unique charm. The Waterlily Room showcases enormous Santa Cruz water lilies – which often have to be replanted in winter because they cannot survive Finland’s dark conditions – while there’s a vast selection of orchids on display in the Palm House.
A cluster of palatial-looking Victorian glasshouses make up the beautiful Jardin Botanique in Lyon. In the South African Greenhouse there’s an array of plants from semi-arid, subtropical and Mediterranean environments, while the Victoria Greenhouse plays host to a vast range of aquatic plants in its tranquil pond. There’s plenty to delight all of the senses outdoors too, with the immaculately landscaped, brightly-coloured Floral Garden a highlight.
An eco-friendly day out for all the family, the Eden Project is one of Cornwall’s best-loved attractions. Housed under a cluster of bubble-shaped greenhouses are a range of unique environments which imitate habitats from across the world, from the Mediterranean to the Amazon. As well as being a stunning and tranquil place to spend time in, The Eden Project is a social enterprise, working with other organisations and the local community to foster greater awareness about the environment.
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Located in downtown Toronto, Allan Gardens dates back to 1858, when Toronto mayor George William Allan donated a five-acre plot of land to the city’s Horticultural Society. Today, the gardens are home to six greenhouses. Visitors can take in a kaleidoscope of bright blooms at the two tropical houses: enjoy the otherworldly, hulking forms of unusual cacti and succulents in the Arid House, or walk under the majestic leaves of myriad different palm trees at the Palm House.
This startlingly beautiful, geometric lattice greenhouse can be found at Brisbane Botanic Gardens in the Mount Coot-tha precinct. Built in 1977, the Tropical Display Dome is encircled by a winding walkway which allows visitors to gaze at its water-lily-studded central pond from all angles. The site is also home to the largest collection of Australian native rainforest trees on the planet.
The height of grandeur when it was created in 1882, Vienna’s Palm House has held onto every inch of its old-school charm. Commissioned by emperor Franz Joseph, the 371-foot (113m) long glasshouse was, and still is, the largest of its kind in continental Europe, comprised of a whopping 45,000 panes of glass. But the epic proportions don’t end there. The world’s largest water lily, at 3.9 feet (1.2m) in diameter, as well as a giant 75-foot (23m) tall palm tree, are found under its roof.