Tolstoy’s grandfather Prince Volkonsky was especially proud of his large conservatory, which was built on the glade next to the Upper Pond. In those days, conservatories were part and parcel of a country estate. Various fruit and berries were grown there: melons, peaches, apricots, pineapples, strawberries and wild strawberries for the festive Christmas table, to say nothing of a great many exotic flowers. Prince Volkonsky’s was just such a conservatory. Three generations of the Volkonsky-Tolstoy family liked to spend their free time in the conservatory. Gardening and growing flowers were among the interests of both Tolstoy’s grandfather and mother, and later of Tolstoy himself and his wife Sophia. In 1867 the old conservatory burned down. In its place, Tolstoy had a little greenhouse built at the same location. It supplied the estate with flower and vegetable seedlings. Hyacinths, crocuses, roses, gladioluses and peonies always added to the beauty of Yasnaya Polyana. This tradition still goes on. «... in the garden there was a greenhouse for winter flowers and a conservatory with peaches of an excellent sort» (Tatiana Kuzminskaya. My Life at Home and at Yasnaya Polyana).