Author: Max ColemanPage 3 of 8

Anticipating the new potato season

On a cold and frosty January day one can’t help thinking about the new vegetable growing season that is yet to unfold. In fact, preparations for the new…

BigPicnic at Parliament

The BigPicnic project, funded by an EU Horizon 2020 grant, has involved 16 botanic gardens working with people to explore the issue of food insecurity with the aim…

Apple Day 10th anniversary

The Apple Day event held in the Botanic Cottage on 6 October was the tenth Apple Day run jointly by the Botanics and the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society….

Digging for Potato Treasure

The RBGE Harvest Festival is always an incredible display of produce from gardens all over the City, but in 2018 the Botanics had an unusual contribution to the…

Progress with the Edinburgh potato

Jan and Liz, Edible Gardening Project volunteers, have been continuing the quest to recreate the Edinburgh potato (Solanum xedinense). A challenge that they face is that potato flowers…

Recreating Edinburgh’s potato

Scotland has a global reputation for potato research, and as a producer of quality, disease free, seed potatoes used by farmers. Many people would think that the tattie…

Protecting Potatoes: Diversity, Domestication and Darwin

Protecting Potatoes is a new plant display with interpretation for summer 2018 at the Botanics. It can be found in the Demonstration Garden and the Temperate Palm House,…

Crowd-sourcing finds new UK tree pest within two days!

To crowdsource information and tasks is an everyday part of the interconnected online world we live in. Today scientists see, and have grasped, the opportunity to get labour…

Twenty-five square metres for biodiversity

As the second BioBlitz approaches on 9 June our thoughts are turning to the wild plants and animals that find a home at the Botanics. An incredible 999…

Alpine blue-sow-thistle conservation

Reintroduction of the rare and threatened alpine blue-sow-thistle to the Cairngorms Natioanl Park is described in a short film by Dr Aline Finger.

Botanical discovery in Nepal

In August 2017 Dr Colin Pendry led an expedition to Bajura, a remote district of Nepal. This short film is about the challenges of reaching the higher altitudes…

Unlocking the power of poo

A short video by Dr Linda Neaves about the challenges of finding giant panda poo in the mountains of China, and how poo samples can unlock the mystery…

Thought for Food: Personal stories

People are, by their nature, storytellers. As food is a rich topic for conversation it makes sense to try to gather people’s thoughts about food through the medium…

What’s that whiff?

If you smell a nasty whiff in the air at the Botanics over the next few days it’s not the drains. It will either be the flower of…

Ravenea glauca

Threatened plants of the world Red List status: VULNERABLE You may have already encountered this rare palm on your last holiday to a warm and sunny destination. You…

Arbutus canariensis

Threatened plants of the world Red List status: VULNERABLE The orange/red fruits of this tree, and its close relatives, have given rise to the name strawberry tree. There,…

Rhododendron taxifolium

Threatened plants of the world Red List status: NOT LISTED Even if you know your rhododendrons I bet you’d never guess this was one. The thin leaves are…

Dracaena cinnabari

Threatened plants of the world Red List status: VULNERABLE Imagine yourself standing on a tropical island surrounded by a turquoise sea. The sun is high and its searing…

Hatiora gaertneri

Threatened plants of the world Red List status: VULNERABLE Does this little plant look familiar to you? Perhaps you have seen it on granny’s windowsill or in a…

Thyrsopteris elegans

Threatened plants of the world Red List status: NOT LISTED Doesn’t the base of this fern look like a furry animal! Try to resist the temptation to stroke…