Author: Max ColemanPage 8 of 10
Being the largest flower head is one of the titan arum’s claims to fame. The Guinness World Record height for this species is an impressive 3.1 metres, so…
Summer 2015 will see an exciting botanical first for Scotland when the titan arum (Amorphophallus titanum) flowers at the Botanics. This native of the Sumatran rainforest has been…
The New to Science blog is a regular post about new plant species as they are being named, described and published for the first time. The only requirements…
Finally the weather is warming up and seed sowing for the 2015 set of Really Wild Veg trials is now complete. This project, now in its third season,…
An internet search for Sutherland kale produces quite a lot of hits. This leafy brassica seems to be a bit of a sensation among foody types looking for…
It might come as a surprise to learn that the discovery of species new to science is a regular occurance for scientists exploring plant diversity. At the Botanics…
Watching bees visitng flowers is something to look forward to in the run up to spring. Their choices are far from random and they will specialise in whatever…
The trees planted adjacent to the coffee shop at the East Gate Lodge include three species found only on Arran on the west coast of Scotland. The origin…
Forked spleenwort (Asplenium septentrionale) is one of Britains oddest looking ferns. The narrow forking fronds look similar to some seaweeds. The way that the fronds droop from rock…
Autumn is the time when gardeners are planning the next year’s planting. The Really Wild Veg project will hopefully run again in 2015 and some initial research has…
Well alright not real hummingbirds. The closest thing we have in Britain is the equally spectacular humming-bird hawk-moth. This extraordinary day-flying moth put in an appearance in the…
To round off the Really Wild Veg project for 2014 here is a selection of images taken throughout the year. It has been the inevitable mix of successes…
The Really Wild Veg project growing trials have been looking at how plants have been changed by domestication by growing crop wild relatives alongside domesticated equivalents. Comparing the…
Discovery of a plant previously unknown in an area is not what you might expect to happen within a botanic garden. Such places have large managed collections of…
On a glorious sunny morning with the first hints of autumn colour in the trees it seemed like as good a time as any to harvest the Really…
On the 11th September the Really Wild Veg event at Cruickshank Botanic Garden was fortunate to have gorgeous sunny weather. Around 50 staff and students came to the…
Harvest time is when we can finally taste the products of our labours in the vegetable garden. The Really Wild Veg project has been using blind taste tests…
TRANSPLANTED is a celebration of the diversity of Scotland’s plant life and its music. This new project is the brainchild of violinist Alice Rickards and cellist Sonia Cromarty…
Now that we are coming to harvest time we will shortly be able to measure the crops in the Really Wild Veg trials to see how they have…
Small orange/brown pustules on the leaves of plants could be a sign of infection by a rust fungus. James Iremonger, Heriot Watt University Student, will be searching Edinburgh…