Winter gardens

A porch or a patio converted into a greenhouse? Or a furnished greenhouse where you can spend some quality time among the greenery and flowers? This is a winter garden, a space with large windows so that the plants receive good light, but comfortable to live in botanical company during the coldest months of the year. Excessive Spanish sun? Nothing that an awning or a blind can't remedy. Imagine yourself having breakfast one autumn sunny morning among your magnificent collection of indoor plants. Listening to music, reading or writing among pots of begonias, palms, ferns, cyclamen, orchids in bloom? enjoying the morning light but sheltered from the cold outside. In northern Europe and the USA, where sunlight is so much appreciated, these spaces are called winter garden, garden room, sunroom, or conservatory, a term that is as much a synonym for a greenhouse as for a glass-roofed porch.

These large glass boxes extend the house to the outside with all the advantages of a comfortable interior, but they also allow gardening enthusiasm to be unleashed all year round. Spaces of this type are also common in northern Spain, without forgetting the traditional verandas, whose large windows facing south let in plenty of light, a necessary condition for growing plants indoors.

Creating a winter garden

Light: To create a green space where to make life inside the house it is essential to have at least a large window that lets in light in the quantity and quality required by the plants. The south or east orientations are the most convenient because they allow the gentle morning and midday sun to enter, and also ensure the possibility of enjoying the environment throughout the year. A westerly orientation can be suffocating in the afternoon, especially on the hottest days, and cold in winter.

Enclosures: The aluminum, wood and glass enclosure technologies available today make it easy to glaze the sides and roof of a porch or patio. When the weather is nice, the sashes of windows and doors can be slid or folded completely at one end by means of a rail system to leave the opening completely open. Thus, these real extensions of the house full of nature and life can be as large and architectural as desired. There are those who house in their winter garden a dining room, a living room with all the comforts, and even a spa.

Water for irrigation: Ensuring the necessary water supply for the plants to live requires having an outlet inside the room, either to water them by hand with a watering can or to attach an automatic drip or micro-sprinkler irrigation system, the most convenient and efficient way to accomplish this task, especially when there are numerous specimens. Self-watering pots also provide a good solution.

Ambient humidity: Traditionally, gurgling fountains have been used to provide plants with the ambient humidity that is so beneficial to them, especially those of tropical origin. Fountain designs now cover all styles and materials, as you can see at your garden center. Foggers and humidifiers are also very effective, but without the charm of fountains.

Plant selection: There are winter gardens large and spacious enough to accommodate large botanical specimens, whether palms, trees such as the different types of ficus, including the gum trees, conifers such as the Norfolk pine, shrubs and climbers such as jasmine typical of warm climates.... Stop by the indoor plant section of your garden center and you will be amazed at the number of species you can grow in a winter garden. If you have any doubts about a plant that you are particularly excited about, just ask one of their experts about its viability. Remember that many of these plants have a purifying effect on the air.