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A History of the Orangery
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Orangeries are large conservatories for tender plants. Originally intended for the propagation of orange trees, hence the name, they soon housed all manner of exotic plants and became sought after as important symbols of status among the wealthy. Only the wealthy could afford the considerable cost of maintaining these collections of rare and unusual plants through the cold winters of Northern and Western Europe.
In Italy, an orangery was built in Padua as early as 1545. Although these first orangeries did not have any heating, in very harsh winters open fires would be lit inside to warm the building. It was not until the return of peace to Europe, after the end of the Eighty Years war in 1648, however, that the fashion for building orangeries really took off in France Germany and the Netherlands. Merchants began to import orange trees from Southern Italy and banana plants, Nerium oleander, Hibiscus, Hebe, and pomegranates began to be propagated for their scent and beauty.
The orangeries that began to be built to protect these precious plants had distinctive architecture. Their most prominent feature was their large number of tall windows, which were south-facing to let in a maximum amount of afternoon sunlight. They rested on brick walls, those facing north being very solidly built to protect against the cold and the wind. The originally, simple roofs, were later replaced by the typical sloping tiled roofs.
The survival of the most sensitive plants through the Western and Northern European winters largely depended on the insulation of the conservatory. Straw was used to insulate the roof and, in very cold winters, wooden walls would be covered in an extra layer of clay and straw. Shutters and walls might also be covered with a layer of buckwheat shells, a very effective insulation method. When necessary, heaters and spirit stoves warmed the plants that often grew in wooden tubs. Later, in the 19th century, some orangeries had sophisticated floor-heating systems to keep the roots warm and opening top windows for ventilation. Orangeries mostly consisted of one large space, but some had separate seeding and cutting rooms. Double doors were fitted, and made as high and wide as possible to enable the larger plants to be moved in and out.
Mobile tub plants and microclimates
At first the garden wall was often just the back wall of the orangery. However, the growth in popularity of the orangery played a large part in the development of the garden. As the gentry also wanted elaborate pleasure gardens, tub plants, citrus trees and Cape plants could be grown inside their orangerie and then moved out to decorate the gardens in summer. As the summer ended, they would be moved back inside, to be displayed in the orangery throughout the winter. And in these gardens, originally enclosed for privacy, it also became apparent that the shelter afforded by their walls could create a beneficial microclimate in which the more exotic plants could thrive. In this way orangeries and elaborate gardens developed hand in hand.
Man and horse power
In the 18th century many practical works were written about propagating orange, lime and lemon trees and the detailed instructions that they generated, required a great amount of manpower to maintain. For the summer a sheltered Southern European valley microclimate had to be maintained, while at the end of October, trees would be brought inside to hibernate at a temperature of between 8°C to 10°C., for the winter. This was quite a task when it involved a large collection of plants. Labourers would drag the trees in their tubs on to a cart and move the load to the orangery. The tubs were then lifted on to poles and rolled as close to the doors as possible from where, the orangery often being on a higher level than the garden itself, they would be lifted into the orangery. That's why original tubs always have handles.
In the earliest orangeries, in order to avoid frost, no windows could be opened. The significant condensation that this generated resulted in large amounts of water that had to be mopped up by gardeners. Later small wooden roof hatches would be installed to allow this to evaporate. Later still, waxed paper would be place on holes in these hatches to allow let the light in (and also, unfortunately, water after a while) and this was followed eventually by the fitting of real glass windows in the roof. In the final model, sliding windows and opening skylights supplied the plants with fresh air and sunlight throughout the winter. After the middle of May the plants would be moved outside again to a sheltered place in the garden, where they would start to become acclimatised before spending the next five months fully outside again.
Decorated with pilasters and palmettes
During the 19th century, as the decorative element became more important, conservatories were built onto or next to the great houses and they became part of all important garden and landscape designs. The buildings themselves were more elaborately decorated with pilasters and palmettes along gutterings, and broad elevated steps or Italian style pergolas. The interior was often decorated with lovely plastered walls and ceilings, cast iron 'ajour' grills and Mediterranean floor tiles and, perhaps , sculptures of the flower goddess Flora. Such decorative interiors were often used as a covered terrace where tea could be taken among the tubs of Agaves, Bay trees, Camelias, fan palms and Phoenix palms and New Zealand flax, and the cast iron vases of Lantanas, Agaves, Myrtus, Yuccas, Agapanthus and Solanum. Eucalyptus, coffee bean plants, grapes and even orchids were grown in some orangeries.
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