Bring your garden indoors and create a conservatory oasis this winter

Anglian winter conservatory

Winter tends to be a relatively quiet time of year for many gardeners, but if you are lucky enough to have a conservatory, why not create a lush, tropical indoor oasis and bring plants in from the garden to add bright, natural colours and designs into your home during the winter?

A conservatory, or even a window sill, provides a perfect shelter from frost where you can over-winter your tender plants such as begonias, herbs and heat loving Mediterranean varieties including fig, olive, orange and lemon.

Or take the advice given in Gardeners’ World TV presenter Carol Klein’s new book, where she recommends growing chillies indoors in a greenhouse, conservatory or windowsill in the months leading up to Christmas.

She says, “Chillies look fabulous, with their red, orange, yellow – even purple – fruits dangling like Christmas baubles, and they make very decorative houseplants as long as they can get enough light, but I grow them because I have come to love to eat the fruits.”

Bringing fragrant leaves such as Calycanthus into your home is another way to make your house smell wonderful and keep your spirits up as the winter closes in.

Head of Marketing and Communications at Anglian Home Improvements, Melanie McDonald, says, “Modern conservatories are much better insulated than many of the older designs, which allows homeowners to use them all year round for a wide range of purposes. Many of Anglian’s customers are keen gardeners and use their conservatories as an extension of their garden as well as home throughout the seasons. In addition to providing winter protection for plants and a perfect place in which to start off spring bulbs, the colours and perfumes that can be brought into the house are a real bonus at this time of year, plus you get the benefit of being able to enjoy some of the results in your cooking as well.”

Anglian Home Improvements is the UK’s biggest double glazing window, door and conservatory specialist. Its range of traditional and contemporary conservatories, including an orangery and conservatory verandah, are all made in the UK using the most up-to-date uPVC conservatory manufacturing and construction techniques.