Author: Max ColemanPage 1 of 7
The primrose, Primula vulgaris, is one of the most evocative and widely-known heralds of spring. If you are lucky enough to know a wild place where this beautiful…
The rainbow symbol is used to represent peace, hope, joy, inclusion and diversity. During the current public health crisis, created by the Covid-19 virus, it has also come…
The Scottish native wild apple (Malus sylvestris), like the Scottish wild cat, could be regarded as being under threat from interbreeding with its domesticated counterpart. In the cat’s…
The tatties produced by the ‘Edinburgh potato’ were recently revealed to the world on BBC Landward and it’s fair to say this potato is not destined to be…
In a cloud forest on the Indonesian island of Seram an orchid was collected during an expedition led by the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh in 1986. The living…
A new twist in the story of the Edinburgh potato (Solanum xedinense) could be the most interesting yet. Late blight (Phytophthora infestans) symptoms were found on many of…
The Edinburgh potato is a small piece of the Garden’s historical association with food crops and food security dating back to the time of our Regius Keeper Sir…
Having waited a full year to see the fruits of our labours in a potato breeding project we have finally been rewarded with success today. Our aim was…
With the flowering of our titan arum for the third time this summer minds have been turning to how we can help our plant, fondly called New Reekie,…
Next to the Front Range and within sight of the Library and Herbarium two small squares of lawn have been transformed into flower-rich ‘living lawns’ as part of…
Guest blog by Ashleigh Whiffin, entomologist (NMS) The breath-taking Microsculpture exhibition of insect portraits opens at RBGE later this month and it’s no secret that I’m a little…
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…
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…
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….
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…
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…
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 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,…
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…
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…