Tag: Weekly HighlightsPage 2 of 3

Pollen strings

Within the research collection is a young potted specimen of Rhododendron zoelleri, one of the Vireya collection. The large funnel shaped corolla is a bright mix of yellow…

Saw teeth for winter fuel

Serratula seoanei bearing terminal light pink coloured composite flowers. The regular segmented flower bud structure is worth peering at before it expands revealing the anthers packed within. These…

Review of the year 2011

Following the coldest and snowiest December (2010) on record, the respite from fresh snow over the New Year period lasted until 6.00pm on the evening of January 7th….

’melis on the move

Preparing the site for the new alpine house involves taking stock of the existing plant collection and then embarking on ground clearance. Within the Hamamelis Border some plants…

Slow food

Gunnera dentata comes complete with resident snail (see picture) who is obviously content to use the evergreen foliage as a truck stop. Evidenced by the nibbled edges to…

View from the roof

The John Hope Gateway visitor centre has a flat roof. To compensate for the developed footprint of the building a section has been planted as a green roof….

Review of the year

The year opened with snow on the ground and saw a continuation of the longest unbroken freezing spell for several decades. The snow just continued to fall, blowing…

Season’s greetings

The shortest day dawns and we can hope the weather improves with increased day length. The country proverb that when the Holly is prolific with berries we will…

Low sun and silhouettes

With the snow still blanketing the land this is an ideal time to appreciate the silhouette of deciduous trees. At maturity the grandeur of forest trees dominates the…

Scuffle strips and bowed plants

A week of heavy snow and no real thaw has resulted in a build up of snow on foliage through the garden. Keep an eye on evergreens where…

Scent from the Tropics

Solandra grandiflora has risen from ground level of the temperate lands house to adorn the railings of the warm weather walkway. This tropical liana is covered in tubular…

Review of the year

A year of snowfall; snow fell of a quality not seen in Edinburgh for several years. On the 9th February; we even resorted to attaching the snow plough…

The ideal berry for a seasonal tipple

A fine specimen of pendulous form. This is one way of describing the mature specimen of Juniperus recurva var. coxii growing in the copse.A native of Myanmar, China…

Black leaves for dark days

The planting of Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ near Inverleith House is a significant splash of black. Look closely and the few strands of reversion to green foliage show up….

The brightest berry of the season?

Sorbus commixta has the brightest berries of the genus; bright red in colour with a lustrous sheen. It does increase their appeal when the sun shines on them…

Review of the year

2008 was a year of desperate weather conditions. The wettest August was recorded with correspondingly low sunshine levels. Indeed on the 6th of the month the rain gauge…

Fresh green flowers

Helleborus foetidus is an evergreen perennial ideally suited to semi shade and a deep moist soil where it will clump and colonise to flower impressively annually. Although the…

An exotic fruit

On a west-facing wall, the evergreen climber Holboellia grandiflora is fruiting. The intertwining mass of tangled growth shelters the lurid purple fruit which is unfortunate, as this is…

Sprouting and flowering

The mahonias are flowering – the shiny evergreen foliage is offset by terminal panicles of yellow flowers. Mahonia napaulensis grows within Quercus and Rhododendron forest at 2,780metres. Our…

Fallen frosted angels

An alternative title for today’s entry could be ‘time waits for no man’. My selection of seasonal plants of interest for these pages is rarely influenced by the…