Category: Edinburgh BotanicsPage 11 of 50

Review of the year 2017

January 1st 2017 arrived with a light overnight frost and bright sunshine. The mild weather continued and with it the fragrance from the open flowers of Sarcococca, Hamamelis and Viburnum…

Bright berries

A light, open growing deciduous shrubby Honeysuckle, Lonicera deflexicalyx bears its fruit in pairs at the leaf axles or nodes, along the stem. These small berries are a…

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…

Two late Nerines

For a late season blast of vibrant colour a patch of Nerine bowdenii ‘Pink Triumph ‘ is flourishing in a sheltered spot to the SE of the tropical…

A second flush

The mild weather has thrown up spikes of late season flowers. This herbaceous Delphinium beesianum has flowers sitting aside the dry brown seed pods of the summer flush….

A treelet

One can only surmise that the description of Neoshirakia japonica in the Flora of China as “a treelet to 8 metres tall” refers to its diminished stature as…

Nepalese Ambassador visits the Botanics

His Excellency Dr Durga Bahadur Subedi, Nepalese Ambassador to the United Kingdom, led a delegation from the Embassy in London to Scotland this weekend, visiting Edinburgh, Aberdeen and…

Not a sea nymph

The Nerine bowdenii and Nerine sarniensis are lasting well. An unusual cultivar N. ‘Quest ‘(a named hybrid of sarniensis) is growing in a clay pot in the glasshouses…

A plant with potential

A young plant of Nyssa sylvatica planted on the pond lawn is colouring well. A native to Eastern North America where it adds considerably to the swathes of…

Meet the orchid centenarians

As part doing a stocktake of the tropical and temperate orchids in the Living Collection I was impressed to see accession numbers that indicated we had plants well…

In the pink

Two plants fusing the shade of pink are the stunning, long lasting flowers of Nerine bowdenii and the fruit of Holboellia grandiflora. The Nerine, a South African bulb;…

Ash

A homage to the best of all autumn colours can be seen in the Nursery. Fraxinus angustifolia ssp. angustifolia when seen with the late afternoon sun lighting up…

First frost and autumn colour

Early sunshine and heavy dew this morning, yet on the front lawns the dew had crystallised as the first ground frost of autumn. With it are signs of…

Out of season flowering in Rhododendron

There are several Rhododendron species and cultivars flowering out of season this autumn. At this time of year the buds should be initiating for the spring 2018 flowering….

Panicles the size of dinner plates

Sambucus racemosa ssp. racemosa has a wide distribution; Europe, Asia Minor, Siberia, W. Asia, N. America. This red berried Elder is bearing magnificent panicles of white flowers, many…

Welcome to Scotland

The Bell heather Erica cinerea is one of the iconic plants of the Scottish hills. Flowering in time for the Edinburgh Festival season a planting near the east…

A woody legume

A young specimen of Colutea cilicica, native to SW Asia is flowering well in the border behind the new alpine house. An unusual genus to find in cultivation,…

Two interlopers

A consequence of a wet spell and the holiday season has resulted in the lawns not being cut as frequently as usual. Two plants have taken advantage of…

Continental colour combo

There is a winning combination in one of the alpine stone troughs. Here two surface hugging plants from separate continents have combined, growing through each other, their flower…

Two South African plants

Both of these plants were collected in Lesotho at the southern end of the Drakensberg Mountains, growing in grassland. Both appreciate an open sun drenched position with good…