Greenhouse Gardening - Whats In A Name

The English gardener John Evelyn first coined the term greenhouse, but a contemporary, Sir Thomas Hanmer, used the terms winter-house and winter-room, known in France as la serre.

At night, the building was warmed in winter by stoves or pans of hot coals and Sir Thomas warned that these must be used with care as more plants might be killed than preserved. Lack of fresh air was also a problem. He recommended that the place should be lofty, with large window and doors only on the warm, sunny side. These were to be opened on mild days to let in warm air but closed during frosty weather. The glass was covered by mats at night: placing rolls of Hessian on pit lights during frosty nights continued well into the twentieth century.