Palmenhaus, Blumengärten Hirschstetten

The Hirschstetten Palmenhaus is heir to a long line of municipal nurseries. In 1860 the City of Vienna bought the garden of the Bechard palace and set up its first Reservegarten there, to raise plants for the city's green spaces; the site was given up in 1866-1867 to make way for a church. A new Reservegarten on the Heumarkt, in the 3rd district, built to plans by chief engineer Georg Haussmann, opened on 1 October 1868. The regulation of the Wien river led to its closure in 1896-1897 and its move to Vorgartenstraße in the 2nd district, on 4.5 hectares.

In 1954 the city council decided to establish the Reservegarten at Hirschstetten, in the 22nd district; the complex was laid out between 1954 and 1961 on 180,000 m², at a planned cost of 54 million schillings. Work on the Palmenhaus began in 1958, and by late autumn 1959 the great glasshouse was heated and ready for use. The last block of production glasshouses was completed in 1974.

In 1989 the great glasshouse was converted into a decorative display house, and the Palmenhaus was renovated in 1994. In September 2002 the 'Reservegarten der Stadt Wien' was renamed Blumengärten Hirschstetten and opened to visitors, who have since seen new themed gardens appear: an English garden in 2004, a Mexican garden in 2008 and a wedding garden in 2011.

The Palmenhaus began life as the great glasshouse (Großgewächshaus) of one of the city's largest horticultural complexes. According to Wikipedia, the facilities built in 1957 comprised 24 growing houses of 6 × 22 m, three glasshouses of 8 × 22 m and three block systems with 27 growing units, a covered area of 9,629.5 m², plus some 8,000 m² of cold frames. The Wien Geschichte Wiki puts the complex at 35,300 m² of glass and 4,550 m² of polythene tunnels.

Converted into a display house in 1989, the great glasshouse now offers 700 m² in three sections, linked by passages wide enough for lorries. The central tropical section is arranged around a pond and a waterfall; it is flanked by a section devoted to Mediterranean plants and by a palm grove (Palmenhain). Insectaria and terraria are built into the route. The sources consulted do not name the building's architect.

The Palmenhaus presents the flora and fauna of three climate regions: a tropical section around the pond and waterfall, Mediterranean plants and a palm grove. It also houses animals, including tree shrews and rock cavies, two bird species, and several insectaria and terraria.

The glasshouse is the setting for the Blumengärten's orchid exhibitions and can be hired for receptions and weddings. Around it, the themed gardens extend the visit outdoors: a maze, a Mediterranean garden, a conifer garden, a medicinal plant garden, a prehistoric garden, a Provence garden, an English garden, a Mexican garden and a wedding garden. For decades the nursery of Vienna's municipal gardens, the site produced, according to the Wien Geschichte Wiki, some 300,000 spring flowers and 800,000 summer flowers a year for the city's parks.

The Blumengärten Hirschstetten are on Quadenstraße in the Donaustadt district (22nd district). The gardens are open from April to October, while the Palmenhaus stays open through the winter months, so it can be visited in any season.

Half an hour is enough for the glasshouse and its three sections; allow more time to explore the themed gardens, from the maze to the Mexican garden. The orchid exhibitions held in the Palmenhaus are a good reason to visit, as is the summer season, when all the gardens are open.