Author: William HinchliffePage 1 of 2

Stories from the Biomes: Threatened Chilean plants on the move.

Tucked away behind the glasshouses of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh is a terrace that contains an exceptional collection of Chilean plants collected by RBGE staff and Chilean…

Damage to the Edinburgh collection. Storm Malik and Corrie

Gusts of wind reached 85mph in parts of Scotland as Storm Malik swept across the country on Saturday. High winds brought down trees, damaged buildings and more than…

Wangari Maathai 1940—2011

Wangari Maathai who did so much to restore, conserve and campaign for the forest environment for the benefit of local people and their way of life in Kenya and across Africa. Everywhere the natural world is being depleted and habitats lost, Wangari’s life and actions are an inspiration to us all. This article discusses a tree planted in her memory in the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and how it came to be. The article was written by Garden Guides, Helen Mitchell and Irene Paterson.

Art in the Garden: Bronzes by Mo Farquharson

Bronzes by Mo Farquharson: Fiona Maguire shares the story of these playful sculptures.

Seeds of Hope: Planting of Ginkgo trees grown from trees that survived the Hiroshima bombing

The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh Nursery have been growing on some very special seeds. In 2015 seeds were gifted to the City of Edinburgh as part of the…

84 Year old Cherry felled in last nights winds at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Last night (5/12/19) the forecast high winds caused us to cancel our Christmas light show. The highest gust recorded in the garden was 43mph. This was enough to…

#NationalTreeWeek @TheBotanics 2019 What are we planting this year?

National Tree Week marks the traditional start of the winter tree planting season. We are celebrating from the 23rd November to the 1st December. “National Tree Week is…

Nepalese Gate

    On our 2017 expedition to far west Nepal we spent much of our time following a pilgrimage trail. This trail beginning in Martadi and ending at…

100th birthday for a Himalayan Wild Pear collected by George Forrest

On the 18th July 2018 we celebrate the 100th birthday of the Pyrus pashia tree growing on the Pyrus lawn.

Ganoderma wood decay on Nothofagus betuloides

The extent of decay of Nothofagus betuloides by Ganoderma revealed.

Nothofagus betuloides branch failure due to wood decay fungi.

Failure of Nothofagus betuloides branch due to wood decay in the Secret Garden

Cirsium purpuratum EIKJE 212

A chance encounter with a Japanese Serow made this collection of Cirsium purpuratum in 2013 especially memorable.

The Huricane of 1968

January the 15th 2018 is the 50th anniversary of The 1968 Hurricane. A deadly storm that moved through the central belt of Scotland. At the time it was the worst gale in…

Tree rings, a log of the trees life

The Arboretum team recently had to take down a group of 5 Scots Pine trees behind the Schools Education Building in the Garden. The Schools Education Building also known as…

The Sweet Chestnut project (The Afterlife of a Tree)

Building on the biodiversity the garden supports  Regular visitors to the garden will have noticed a mature Sweet Chestnut in the later stages of its life with only a…

Cryptomeria japonica grove

Where the Nothofagus obliqua has been lost Garden volunteers have replanted with a grove of 5 Cryptomeria japonica.

Lucy’s Fight: Number 37 in the list – Plant a tree.

Yesterday we had the pleasure of having Lucy Lintott and her father come down from their home in Garmouth to plant a tree in the garden. Since being…

New Magnolia stellata beds

We have been redeveloping an area on the Oak lawn. A group of two cultivars of Ilex x altaclarensis have been removed, ‘Camelliifolia’ and ‘Hodgisii’; these are represented elsewhere…

Some bird life highlights on a spring morning

On a walk around the garden on Saturday it was not only the people who were enjoying the plants. The birds were enjoying the garden too. We were…

Nothofagus obliqua

One of the tallest trees here in the garden at Inverleith is the Nothofagus obliqua in the Woodland garden. Nothofagus obliqua grows well in the British Isles but doesn’t perform well…