Tanglewood Conservatories Blog

An orchid is to your conservatory what your conservatory is to your home. The crowning jewel. Everyone admires the exquisite jewel-like beauty of color and form manifest in hundreds of orchid species, but many of you are reluctant to grow them because you’ve heard that it is difficult to do so. Fear not.

Successful orchid cultivation is simply a matter of understanding which species are best suited to the environment you are able to offer them. We have a friend who claims they thrive on neglect. He has no dedicated heat source in his conservatory, and more than one hundred orchids rely on whatever heat transfers from the open interior wall window and door. At times, on a cold Pennsylvania night the temperature inside dips to the 40’s, yet he’s presented with a seemingly endless array of blooms. He waters at regular intervals and feeds occasionally. Nature does the rest. Though we don’t necessarily advise you to try this method, it seems that the orchids receive the light and warmth they need from this south-facing room during the day and the very cool nighttime temperatures mimic the contrast that orchids enjoy in some of their native high mountain habitats.

Having a conservatory gives you a leading edge in providing the two most important criteria for growing orchids. Light and Temperature. Few plants other than cacti thrive in direct sunlight, but orchids do vary in their light intensity requirements. Brassavola, Cattleya, Cymbidium, Dendrobium, Laelia. Oncidium, Phragmipedium, and Vandas name a few that can be successfully grown by the beginner in medium to high lighting, with temperatures spanning 55 at the low end to an ideal high of 70–conditions typically available in the conservatory.

Humidity and air circulation are also factors to be considered, but are most critical only in the immediate area in which the plants are displayed. Often the necessary humidity levels can be created by the use of one of several styles of water trays. Be careful to make sure that the pot is not sitting directly in the water. Orchids dislike having wet, soggy “feet”.

Contrary to what you may have assumed, you do not need to turn your conservatory into a sauna. Orchids grow best in 40-70% humidity—a huge range that is usually achievable, but in part will depend on the climate in which you live, and the conservatory heating and cooling (HVAC) system designed for your comfort as well as that of the orchids.

Since I was last showing images of my trip to Germany and some of the great copper domes and lanterns that I find an inspiration for our work, I thought I’d show another source of inspiration for our woodworking skills.

These beautiful mahogany “taxi cabs” are everywhere in Venice, probably more prolific that the fabled gondolas. Every time I saw a really great example of one going by, I vowed to expand our business into this new area of production!

Here’s another interesting sight. This was the dining room of a very upscale restaurant in Germany with a glass conservatory roof. Notice the live tree growing right through the glass ceiling. What a flashing nightmare!!!

Alan

What’s the difference? According to Webster’s, there isn’t any. If one looks up the definition of a conservatory, it will tell you that it is a greenhouse. Both are glass rooms in which plants can be grown. But just as a violin and a fiddle are the same instruments, there the similarity ends. The way in which they are played makes all the difference.
It is the way in which a conservatory is used that distinguishes it from a greenhouse designed exclusively for the nurturing of plants.

While some greenhouses offer design features that set them apart from the purely utilitarian, they usually are not designed to be living spaces so do not offer the creature comforts we expect from the environments in which we live.

A conservatory on the other hand is suitable not only for growing plants, but also accommodates the opportunity for a myriad of activities. Dining under the stars, luxuriating in your private spa, enjoying fireside conservation with family or friends, are just a few possibilities suggested.

Whether it be an extension of your home, or a freestanding garden or poolside venue, an appropriately designed conservatory can fulfill both your needs and your dreams—including those of growing beautiful plants– by creating a year ‘round living space that is unlikely to achieve with the common greenhouse.

Some of the features of the landscapes and cityscapes I found especially enchanting in Germany were the extraordinary copper domes that are everywhere.

It seemed that every small village we passed through had at least one church or town square with a tower with an exotic copper dome on it. These were a real inspiration for me because of the recent work we’re been doing with copper domes ourselves. (see our new page on Domes, Lanterns & Skylights in the Our Portfolio section.)

Some of the constructions were of more or less familiar shapes though frequently quite ornate but some of them were so exotic, I could not help wondering at their origin or inspiration. There were also many fine examples of Romanesque and Baroque architecture which I found particularly interesting.

Here are some of the pictures I took. Some are very poor quality because they were taken from a moving vehicle; however I wanted to show them anyway because they were so unusual.

This tower with its copper bell shaped roof is a good example of one of the more recognizable forms. It has a great shape and proportions. Do a quick calculation and see if you can get a sense of the height of that steeple finial! We’ve built some of these recently though not as large.

Now these are what I mean by unusual. Who would have ever thought up a shapes like this, much less try to build them?

This one was very strange to me. The picture is really poor but you can get a sense of the unusual shape. The next picture shows how it rises above everything else in this small village.

This one is a very typical shape in the part of Germany I was traveling through. I can just imagine the fun someone must have had going around designing and creating these fantastic structures.

Here’s an interesting roof shape from the Prince Bishops medieval residence in Wurtzburg. This one is shingled instead of clad with copper, which I think would be even harder to do. You’d have to make sure the shingles stayed in place even when applied almost upside down and that it wouldn’t leak for the next several centuries.

This is a small Romanesque chapel with a copper dome.

And this, a small Baroque chapel with a much more ornate copper dome, also in Wurtzburg.

This was a very typical shape seen all over the region.

This copper dome roof sits on top of what must be a very cool room on the inside.

This unusual building is actually a crane used some time ago to unload the river barges that are still active on the rivers throughout the region today. It sits alongside the Main River (pronounced Mayan) along which runs a lovely river walk and must be the forerunner of the large cargo cranes seen today at every seaport in the world. The top of the building, which is the copper clad dome, rotates and the arms of the crane are made out of large wood members clad with copper sheet metal.

Alan

I hope everyone has noticed the new look of some of the sections of our website. We’ve tried to make the navigation scheme easier to follow and we’ve added more images on many of the pages in the Our Portfolio section.

We’ve also expanded the Our Portfolio section to show some of the really great Botanical and Palm Houses that we have been building recently in addition to our custom conservatories and we’ve added a section highlighting our crafting of custom Domes, Roof Lanterns & Skylights.

I’d love to hear from anyone with comments about our site. Please email me though the contact page of the site.

Alan