Tag: NovemberPage 1 of 4

Bird food

With the last of the dark green foliage just hanging onto the stem the twiggy outline of Euonymus europaeus is enhanced by the cluster of red seed capsules…

Silver sensation

A plant of 1960’s suburbia. With the housing boom in the 1960’s the Pampas grass became a popular feature of British gardens. The images are of a cultivar…

Himalayan herbage

Miscanthus nepalensis has grown well from seed collected in 2016 from plants growing in Nepalese coniferous forest.  A group on the corner of the Front Range glasshouse has…

Review of the Year – 2018

Following on from a Met Office decreed White Christmas in 2017, Edinburgh had a day of snow and then Storm Dylan blew through on the 31st. Fortuitously, the…

An intense blue

Seed collected in Sichuan Province, China during 1992 of Ceratostigma minus is providing colour in this warm, open November month. There is what may be signs of slight…

A fine leaf with shape, texture and colour

The group of Hydrangea quercifolia growing in the biodiversity garden are still showing good autumn colour. Large distinctively shaped leaves make this a worthwhile plant to grow. The…

In senescence there is beauty

Walking along the south of the Front Range glasshouses the sun lit up the decaying clump of Agapanthus praecox ssp. minimus. The long linear foliage has turned a…

The Poppy Patch

With the dry, warm weather this autumn the Annual Poppy, Papaver rhoeas, has produced a timely show of flowers to add colour in the lead up to Armistice…

A second flush

The mild weather has thrown up spikes of late season flowers. This herbaceous Delphinium beesianum has flowers sitting aside the dry brown seed pods of the summer flush….

Grey and silver in low light

The bright sunny days we have had are ideal for highlighting the soft shades of grey and silver in the garden. The foliage of Geranium traversii var. elegans,…

A treelet

One can only surmise that the description of Neoshirakia japonica in the Flora of China as “a treelet to 8 metres tall” refers to its diminished stature as…

Ten years of seasonal plants of interest – 12 that flower or colour reliably year on year.

A lot of plants have caught my eye during the past decade while compiling a weekly profile on a seasonal plant of interest. Below are the consistently reliable…

Snake bark maple

Now that the foliage is clearing from the deciduous canopies the full beauty of the trunk of Acer pensylvanicum is revealed. This seedling is now eight years old;…

Fermenting apples

Sorbus harrowiana is not the best specimen for displaying ornamental fruit but it does have a related back story. It is native to SW China where, as can…

Reflections on my first growing season as Community Gardener with the Edible Gardening Project

Community Gardener Lizzie Oldroyd joined the Edible Gardening team in May, here are a few of her reflections on her first growing season at RBGE; The fingertips are nipping…

Last vestige of autumn colour

Wrap up warmly and take the opportunity to appreciate the remainder of the autumn colour on the deciduous trees. The colder nights see the leaves dropping as the…

Styrax fruits

One of the Styrax officinalis plants growing at the west gate has produced several fruits. These hang elegantly from the previous season’s growth. The fruits resemble a grey…

Out of season Daphne

Daphne gemmata, is compact, with an inflorescence of clear yellow flowers. This species, a native to SW China where it is found growing in sun, well drained, stony…

Out of season beauty

In the corner of the QMM garden is a columnar tree full of lightly scented musty white flowers. Awash with flowers this Hoheria populnea is a deciduous member…

Sky blue under a leaden sky

Despite the past week of storms, rain and battering inclement weather this scandent Delphinium sp. has proved resilient. It has sparse growth but from this is thrown a…