Category: Edinburgh BotanicsPage 14 of 50

Two blue Salvias

Two South American Labiates that are set to brighten the borders for autumn are the sturdy and felty Salvia corrugata and the more spindly S. meyeri. Both with…

Mortar magic

Fuchsia magellanica produces sweet, juicy fruits containing multiple seed. These are often dispersed by birds that are partial to the fruit. From subsequent droppings chance seedlings are occasionally…

Birthday Celebrations at Inverleith House

Open for over a month already, I still believe in miracles celebrates the originality and significance of Inverleith House’s programme over the past 30 years, featuring works by…

A Story Behind Every Plant

  Every wild collected plant in the huge living collection at RBGE comes with a story. Of course, some are more interesting than others… In 2014 Katherine Dixon…

The Soap Tree – Yucca elata

The Yucca elata was donated to RBGE as seed from Michigan University Botanic Garden in 1995 and was subsequently planted in the newly landscaped Arid Lands House in…

Mirror quality gloss

Trochodendron aralioides is an evergreen tree with branches in a layered structure. The leaves are highly glabrous and with the summer sun high in the sky are reflecting…

An ornamental Onion

The good sized stems on this Allium wallichianum make it a worthwhile addition to the late summer border. At this time of year foliage has reached maximum height…

Heads up for Hydrangeas

Producing flower heads of dinner plate size in the copse is a young specimen of Hydrangea sargentiana. Stout stems bear the terminal corymb, flat at first and then…

Summers end

A show of delicate white, in a south facing bed of the rock garden, is a planting of Leucojum autumnale var. oporanthum. These tiny bulbs send up a…

Elegance

Baking in the heat on a raised terrace with flower spikes hitting two plus metres in height this Watsonia x longifolia is an elegant sight. It can be…

Coffee (coffea Arabica)

  Coffee Coffea Arabica Family: Rubiaceae Description First introduced to Europe in 1583, the Arabica coffee tree, which grows to nearly 30 feet high, produces a crop of…

Sun lover

Helichrysum aucheri is in flower on the scree. Papery flower heads on 150mm stems. Collected in Turkey but native to greater Arabia. Grown in well drained soil and…

Set in soil at your own risk

A collection from China is growing opposite the pond lawn. Cacalia aff. delphiniifolia (aff. means ‘akin to’ used in plant nomenclature) loves an area of bare soil within…

One bright, one white

Looking for a splash of colour in the border? Trollius chinensis ‘Gold Queen’ could be the plant you are looking for. An herbaceous perennial growing to a height…

Raspberry ripple

Weigela decora collected in Japan from an area of dense mixed forest containing Cryptomeria japonica and Stachyurus praecox, these were huge parent plants spreading and reaching 4m x…

Inverleith House poster exhibition begins 30th anniversary celebrations

Inverleith House is celebrating three decades of contemporary art and botanical exhibitions at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh with a presentation of rarely seen posters and invitation cards…

Unintended consequences

You study diligently, you consult books, you visit other gardens for ideas on colour and combination then a rampaging Ranunculus invades your border and the most appealing floral…

Annatto ( lipstick tree) wet tropic glasshouse

Annatto Bixa orellana  Family:Bixaceae  Description The snowy white flowers of Annatto make it an attractive ornamental shrub. The fleshy arils surrounding the seeds produce an orange-red dye, the…

Venus fly trap

Venus flytrap Dionaea muscipula Family:-Droseraceae Description The Venus flytrap is a most remarkable and very recognisable plant. Its leaves are modified in an extraordinary way in order to…