Out of all the rooms in the house, the conservatory is probably the best suited room for growing plants. In fact conservatories were originally designed with growing plants in mind (specifically citrus fruits). Which is why they’re so adept at growing plants, especially more exotic plants that like heat and humidity as conservatories can get rather hot and humid in the sun.
Essentially a conservatory is a greenhouse with furniture inside that has been attached to your home, so there are various plants you can grow in your conservatory. Just be wary that some plants that like heat, such as succulents or aloe vera, will struggle with the light in your conservatory. So having a set of DotcomBlinds conservatory blinds can be handy, to help cover up the sun in specific areas to stop your plants getting sun burn.
So let’s go through the best plants to grow in your conservatory!
Succulents and Cacti
Succulents and cacti are some of the easiest plants to grow. They don’t need a lot of care to grow and flourish, simply leave them in a warm area and water them every 2 weeks or so and you’ll have a beautiful looking succulent or cactus.
When potting your succulent, make sure your pots have a drainage hole, as succulents are desert plants, they don’t need a lot of water. Having damp soil will cause their roots to begin to rot. While succulents like heat and the sun, they can get sunburnt if exposed to too much light, so make sure they’re in a spot with some shade.
Citrus Fruits
As we said earlier, conservatories were initially made to help people grow citrus fruits, as mild European countries simply don’t get enough heat year round to successfully grow these exotic plants. So your conservatory is the perfect place to try grow some citrus trees. The easiest citrus trees to grow are Normal Lemons, Bitter Oranges and Seville Oranges. They are hardy plants and can tolerate low temperatures.
When potting your citrus plant, it’s best to go with a terracotta pot as they lose moisture quickly and make it harder to over-water your plant. When watering you’ll only need to water once per week (ideally with rain water). These plants like a high level of heat and sun, but make sure to place them in a spot that will have some shade throughout the day or put them near conservatory blind which can be closed.
Olive Plants
It may surprise you to find out that you can actually grow olives in your conservatory. The heat your conservatory generates is enough to emulate areas like Italy and Greece that are famous for their olives. They’re quite hardy plants so once they start growing they’re rather easy to care for, just needing the occasional pruning to help it along.
Olive trees are ideal for growing in a pot as they’re slow growers, just make sure the pot is at least 2x as big as their root ball. Position them close to a wall in the conservatory that gets lots of sunlight, this will help your olive grow. When it comes to watering, olive plants can often survive living through droughts or in bad soil, so water once a week with a large amount of water or every day with a smaller amount to keep it happy.
Disclosure – this is a collaborative post
I love my cactus collection but I’ve never thought about trying citrus fruits.