Author: Roger HyamPage 1 of 5

I'm the Digital Information Development Officer at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Molecular biology and the internet have had no effect on the rate of plant species discovery

The title is somewhat clickbaity but probably correct. Working on the World Flora Online Plant List means we are continuously processing and reprocessing a list of all known…

Homonym means “different name” NOT “same name”

This is the third post in a series about the Taxon Name Linking Service project. My last post was titled “Why Latin names just aren’t good enough anymore“….

Why Latin names just aren’t good enough anymore

This is the second post in a series about the Taxon Name Linking Service project. The process of combining biodiversity data from multiple sources currently starts with matching…

TNLS: from Alphabetti-Spaghetti to order?

We are excited to start a new collaboration between the Botanics (RBGE) and Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ). This project forms part of TETTRIs – “Transforming European Taxonomy through…

A Blueprint for Wellbeing

One of the workshops at this years Connect with Nature Conference was titled “A Blueprint for Wellbeing”. It was a collaborative experiment between artist Natalie Taylor and medical…

Food Security? Try Raspberry Pi!

Often problems are small and solutions simple, but a little bit of tech can make things a lot easier. If we get it right then no one will…

Garden Buildings: Introduction

Building for Nature Buildings have been important to gardens for thousands of years – from the humble wooden shed for potting to magnificent glass palaces in which to…

Inverleith House

Inverleith House was designed by David Henderson in 1773 and built the following year. It stood at the heart of Sir James Rocheid’s estate, which comprised not only…

Caledonian Hall

Built by the Royal Caledonian Horticultural Society when this part of the Garden was under their care, the Caledonian Hall is a beautiful example of a Victorian exhibition…

East Gate Lodge

William Henry Playfair was responsible for some of Edinburgh’s grandest buildings, including the Royal Scottish Academy and the National Gallery of Scotland, but the East Gate Lodge is…

The Herbarium

Officially opened by HM The Queen in 1964, the Herbarium and Library was built to house the collection of three million preserved plant specimens held by the Royal…

The Linnaeus Monument

This handsome monument honours the Swedish botanist Carl Linnaeus, who popularised a system of sexual classification of plants in the 18th century. It originally stood in the previous…

Main Glasshouse Range

When built in 1967 the 128 metre long main glasshouse range was regarded as the greatest innovation in glasshouse design in a century. The then Curator of the…

The Temperate Palm House

Completed in 1858, the Temperate Palm House is the tallest traditional Palm House in Britain, with a height of 21.95 metres. Designed by Robert Matheson, the glasshouse cost…

The Botanic Cottage

Designed by two of the most renowned’ architects of the 18th century – John Adam (brother of Robert) and James Craig (designer of Edinburgh’s New Town plan) –…

The John Hope Gateway

Named after one of the most visionary leaders in the history of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, the John Hope Gateway is one of the best visitor welcome…

Growing greener credentials at Logan Botanic Garden

Logan Botanic Garden, one of Dumfries & Galloway’s leading visitor attractions, has underscored its commitment to saving the environment by being one of the first Gardens in Scotland…

New signage is coming to Inverleith

The installation of new welcome and navigation signage for the Edinburgh Garden starts on Wednesday 21 March and will continue for a couple of weeks. You may have…

Goodbye to old friend 19665087A – Ostrya carpinifolia

There is a certain quiet bench in the Edinburgh garden where lunch can be enjoyed even on the most crowded of days. In addition to its seclusion the…

Who stole our ting?

Suggesting a meeting at the ting is always a good, if slightly cruel, test of garden knowledge.  Many visitors and quite a few staff don’t know that the…