In the dead of winter, London's parks and public gardens are conspicuously less charming. Plus, they're often sodden/freezing bloody cold. The answer? Get under the glass of these palm houses, greenhouses and conservatories, for all the goodies of a garden — and zero risk of rain.
The glasshouses, Kew
The daddy of London's greenhouse scene, Kew Gardens has three major glasshouses, each acting as a giant cloche for some scene-stealing plants sheltering inside:
🌴 The Palm House — which looks not unlike a glass submarine surfacing from the soil — first lured Londoners into its steamy microclimate in 1844, and has since wowed with its bristling displays of tropical plants, some of which, like the 'suicide palm' and neon pink 'Red Hot Cat's Tail' are nothing short of fantastical.
🌴 Kew's Temperate House would make a spectacular palace for anyone, yet the only residents here are 3,000-odd plants — their fronds arcing over your head, and giving the illusion you've left west London, and stepped into a mash-up of the world's jungle.
🌴 So sizeable and sturdy are the Brazilian Victoria amazonica lily pads bobbing on the surface of the Princess of Wales Conservatory's pond, children used to be photographed sitting on them. You'll be in hot water if you plonk Oscar or Olivia on one now, but to admire them from a short distance is still a thrill.
Note: the Palm House and Princess of Wales Conservatory will be closed to visitors from 2027 till 2032 for restoration. Kew Gardens
Avery Hill Winter Garden, Eltham
Improbable Hollywood lore lurks in Eltham: while Bob Hope — yes, that Bob Hope — was born here in 1903, exactly 75 years later Robert Mitchum and Jimmy Stewart shot a scene for a remake of The Big Sleep in Avery Park Hill Winter Garden. You needn't wield such starry credentials to gain access; the tropical glasshouse — built in 1889 by 'Nitrate King' John Thomas North as part of a rambling mansion complex — is open daily throughout the year (closing for a short lunch break). Studded with Indian Poke, and graced by koi carp pond replete with a reclining nude, it's like an amuse bouche for Kew, and entirely free to enjoy. That said, we wouldn't recommend visiting on the hottest day of the year... as we once did. Avery Hill Winter Garden
Barbican Conservatory
Surely one of London's worst-kept secrets, how many dreary Sunday afternoons must the Barbican Conservatory have salvaged since it opened in the mid-1980s? How best to describe it? Imagine Corbusier directing an Indiana Jones movie — great slabs of brutalist concrete softened by date palms, cheese plants and various overspills of green gushing down from the balconies. Talk about a concrete jungle. Thought it's free to rove, you won't get in without booking a time slot, and at times you can only get on the waitlist — so unhidden is this 'hidden gem'. Consider booking tickets for one of the occasional music performances. Note: Barbican Conservatory will close for a year from June 2028; when it reopens it'll be fully accessible. Barbican Conservatory
Crossrail Place Roof Garden, Canary Wharf
An au courant imagining of the traditional botanical garden, the lattice-covered biodome of Crossrail Place Roof Garden hosts an array of ferns, palms, bamboos and grasses, sourced from far-flung corners of the globe. Wide walkways flanked by benches make Crossrail Place feel less of a greenhouse, more like London's uncanniest street. A shoo-in for lunch breaks, the garden stays open late, so is also perfect for a post-drink/dinner promenade. Look out for the print-your-own short story stations, too. Crossrail Place Roof Garden
Sky Garden, City of London
Since being set into the topmost floor of 20 Fenchurch like a particularly verdant set of hair plugs in 2015, the Sky Garden has been joined by a gaggle of public rooftop viewing platforms across London. However, only here can you glance down on thousands of rooftops, and do so peering through the gaps in the agapanthus and French lavender. You can choose to be wined and dined up here to your heart's content/wallet's chagrin, but you can also nip up here and saunter around the verdure, without paying a penny. And if fog's obscuring the vistas, at least you've still got a smashing gardenscape. Book in advance. Sky Garden
Chelsea Physic Garden
Call it a shrunken-down version of Kew if you will, but Chelsea Physic Garden is certainly not deficient in the glasshouse department; it has seven in all — all recently restored, all teeming with all sorts of edible and medicinal flora — from the strikingly vibrant to the painfully prickly. The glasshouses sometimes host special events, including ones where you get to explore them after dark by torchlight. Chelsea Physic Garden
Petersham Nurseries, Richmond
Not so much a botanical garden as London's most aspirational garden centre, the original Petersham Nurseries invites to you browse terracotta potted bulbs and pineapple-shaped ceramics inside its coterie of glorious glasshouses, enveloped in creeping vines and scattered with chi-chi garden furniture. Technically it's free to visit, though just try fighting off the urge to tuck into a wedge of carrot and walnut cake, while wondering what it is they do to get make their hydrangeas so goddam healthy. Hate to say it but Dobbies is a slum compared to this place. Petersham Nurseries
Walworth Garden, Kennington
You won't eke a day out from a visit to Walworth Garden, but it does make a pleasant distraction for half an hour en route to Orbit Beers, what with its collection of small greenhouses — including an extremely scaled-down take on the Eden Project. It's free, open seven days a week — and you can buy almost anything here that's green and in a pot. And if you're a gardener looking to dig deeper, they offer workshops to scratch the itch. Walworth Garden
Editor's note: Syon House's bulbous Great Conservatory is another magical indoor garden, but only tends to open at the beginning of March, so we've not included it here.
