The Winter Garden, Sheffield

Here are some facts about the Winter Garden taken from an information board.

The Winter Garden was developed together with the Millennium Galleries (which conjoin the Winter Garden) as part of Sheffield's Heart of the City project.

The purpose of the building is to provide an indoor garden for the public as an extension to the outdoor Peace Gardens nearby. It's a temperate glasshouse with background frost protection to a minimum of 4 degrees Celsius provided by underfloor heating.

The planting is organised by arranging plants with similar requirements or from similar habitats.  For example, drought-tolerant plants are placed at the sunny south end of the building with shade-lovers planted in the north.

Watering is carried out by hosepipe, watering can and mist spray.  Even in today's age of technology it is the best way to ensure that each plant receives its individual requirements.  Some plants need a dry period at certain times during the year whilst others require misting regularly.

400 tons of topsoil have been used to fill the plant beds (enough to fill 3,600 wheelbarrows).  The beds contain 150 species of plants; more than 2,500 plants in total.

I took the above photos just after they had been spray watered.

(Photos below) The Winter Garden has been decorated with artificial flowers, butterflies etc. for the festive season and the fairy people are back!

In the summer and early autumn months there was an impressive installation hanging from the inside roof arches of the Winter Garden building featuring the scientific world.

A city centre visit

The last few weeks I've been quite busy. This week I had a wander around the city as it was a bright sunny day just right for taking some photos. 

There was a statue that had recently been installed outside the train station. Being known as 'steel city' many of the street art features are made from metal and this one was rather ingenious as it was made from allen keys.

The fountains, water features and steel walkway

greet visitors to the city as they leave the train station.

Colourful posters show what goes on in the city

throughout the year.

I walked through the Millennium Gallery to the Winter Garden. The latest art exhibition Ravilious & Co. is on at the moment.  I've been twice to see  the exhibits as there's a lot to take in and I hope to go to one of the talks by the curator of the exhibition. 

The window at the end of the gallery corridor is often artistically decorated.

In the Winter Garden there are always pop-up exhibitions and activities hosted by various organisations and departments of the University of Sheffield.

This exhibition of mainly portraits and scenes were exhibited by Olivia Howland an anthropologist and artist with roots in the English traveller community. She gained her PhD in 2016 in Applied Anthropology and has been based in East Africa for the past 12 years where she lives in rural Kenya.  She built her house in 2012 on the side of a beautiful mountain.   She currently works in Tanzania and is a researcher on a project for the University of Sheffield which has given her the opportunity to meet the people and visit some of the places featured in her paintings (oil on canvas).  

The Winter Garden is one of my favourite places in the centre of Sheffield and as there is always something different going on there in the spaces surrounding the wonderful trees and plants I'll share more another day.  This week it has been decorated for Christmas.

Botanical glasshouse beauty

Orchids and  perhaps Guzmania lingulata

I don't know what this plant is, but the flower 

looks like a butterfly from afar.

The flowers and other plants are real.

Of course, the birds are not,

but they do add to the exotic atmosphere
in the glasshouse.

Chinese New Year Celebrations

A Chinese New Year Festival at the Sheffield Winter Gardens to showcase the various talents of the Chinese community in the city has been taking place today.

I went to have a look at the colourful decorations and activities that had been organised by the city University. (This year is the year of the snake).

There were games and calligraphy demonstrations and I found that I was more dexterous than I had thought as I was able to use chopsticks to pick up chocolate balls and transfer them into another bowl!  As a result I was given a small prize as well as the traditional envelope containing a chocolate coin.

We were offered green tea and sweets and although I missed the dancing and music which was taking place this afternoon I enjoyed talking to the young people who had put on this interesting festival of Chinese culture.

Today is Shrove Tuesday so later on I shall be making pancakes with a sprinkling of sugar and a squeeze of lemon.  Do you make pancakes on this day?  If so, do you have a favourite recipe?