This article is regarding the kind of garden maintained in wintertime; for other meanings, see Winter Garden

Winter Garden

Winter Garden may refer to:* A winter garden, winter-hardy plants grown for winter interest and decoration, or to be harvested for food between winter and early spring.-Places:* Winter Garden, California, former community in Kern County...

The origin of the winter garden dates back to the 17th to 19th centuries where European nobility would construct large conservatories

Conservatory (greenhouse)

A conservatory is a room having glass roof and walls, typically attached to a house on only one side, used as a greenhouse or a sunroom...

 that would house tropical and subtropical plants and would act as an extension of their living space. Many of these would be attached to their main palaces. Earlier versions would be constructed of masonry with large windows and a glass roof, usually in the Classical

Classical architecture

Classical architecture is a mode of architecture employing vocabulary derived in part from the Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, enriched by classicizing architectural practice in Europe since the Renaissance...

 or Gothic

Gothic architecture

Gothic architecture is a style of architecture that flourished during the high and late medieval period. It evolved from Romanesque architecture and was succeeded by Renaissance architecture....

 styles. While in the 19th century many of these conservatories were made out of iron and curvilinear glass. Winter gardens were not just restricted to private residence, many were built for the greater public. The first large public winter garden was built in 1842-46 in Regent's Park in London and was used for evening occasions, large flower shows and social gatherings. Other winter gardens, such as The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace

The Crystal Palace was a cast-iron and glass building originally erected in Hyde Park, London, England, to house the Great Exhibition of 1851. More than 14,000 exhibitors from around the world gathered in the Palace's of exhibition space to display examples of the latest technology developed in...

 by Sir Joseph Paxton in 1851, were soon built and used for a variety of purposes.

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The modern winter garden is usually a garden

Garden

A garden is a planned space, usually outdoors, set aside for the display, cultivation, and enjoyment of plants and other forms of nature. The garden can incorporate both natural and man-made materials. The most common form today is known as a residential garden, but the term garden has...

 planted either to produce food, or at least to remain visibly planted and slowly develop, throughout the winter

Winter

Winter is the coldest season of the year in temperate climates, between autumn and spring. At the winter solstice, the days are shortest and the nights are longest, with days lengthening as the season progresses after the solstice.-Meteorology:...

, or else a garden whose plants will serve as living decoration all winter. One basic premise, in temperate or colder regions, to the winter garden is that the plants may indeed become dormant when snow covers the ground, but will grow each time the sun heats at least part of the plant to above freezing (snow or not), especially in regions where snow cover and below-freezing temperatures are not constant for months at a time.

Vegetable

Vegetable

The noun vegetable usually means an edible plant or part of a plant other than a sweet fruit or seed. This typically means the leaf, stem, or root of a plant....

s that are typically, or can be, used in a winter garden include:

• Several breeds of winter-hardy cabbage
• Specific winter-hardy breeds of broccoli
• Winter rye is grown where a summer garden will be, in order to protect the ground from weeds, and provide soil amendment when tilled directly into the soil the following spring
• beet
  Beet
  The beet is a plant in the Chenopodiaceae family which is now included in Amaranthaceae family. It is best known in its numerous cultivated varieties, the most well known of which is the purple root vegetable known as the beetroot or garden beet...
  
  s
• carrot
  Carrot
  The carrot is a root vegetable, usually orange in colour, though purple, red, white, and yellow varieties exist. It has a crisp texture when fresh...
  
  s
• allium
  Allium
  Allium is a monocot genus of flowering plants, informally referred to as the onion genus. The generic name Allium is the Latin word for garlic....
  
  s -- onions, chives, and their relatives are evergreen, though some may die back during the winter and recover in the spring.
• oregano
  Oregano
  Oregano – scientifically named Origanum vulgare by Carolus Linnaeus – is a common species of Origanum, a genus of the mint family . It is native to warm-temperate western and southwestern Eurasia and the Mediterranean region.Oregano is a perennial herb, growing from 20–80 cm tall,...
  
   (including marjoram
  Marjoram
  Marjoram is a somewhat cold-sensitive perennial herb or undershrub with sweet pine and citrus flavours...
  
  ) -- known to hardily survive the winter up to Zone 5
  Hardiness zone
  A hardiness zone is a geographically defined area in which a specific category of plant life is capable of growing, as defined by climatic conditions, including its ability to withstand the minimum temperatures of the zone...