In the 1990 film Green Card, horticulturist Brontë Parrish finds the New York apartment of her dreams. Its knock-out feature is a gorgeous plant-filled rooftop conservatory, complete with a tinkling fountain and luxuriant tree ferns; to me it’s all too believable that she should enter into an illegal marriage simply to get her hands on it.
Given a few caveats, the romantic idea of having a conservatory filled with exotic plants is far from Hollywood fiction. The ideal conservatory for most people is a place where plants and living space integrate without fuss, but most modern structures are made, in the first instance, for people. Employed as a double-glazed extension to living space, they are far more likely to serve as a dining room, an extra lounge or kitchen than as a greenhouse, sometimes forgoing separation from the rest of the house.
Depending on their aspect, conservatories may grow alarmingly hot in summer, while most are near-freezing in winter
