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.
