Category: Edinburgh BotanicsPage 17 of 50

Tall sentinels of seed

The season of herbaceous seed heads is with us. This tall Ligularia fischeri has elegance in the way it displays the seed and empty seed capsules down the…

The three R’s

A warm autumn and benign lead into winter has produced many out of season horticultural surprises. The Raspberry ‘Autumn Bliss’ was prolific in fruiting  and even now has…

Out of season beauty

In the corner of the QMM garden is a columnar tree full of lightly scented musty white flowers. Awash with flowers this Hoheria populnea is a deciduous member…

Calliandra ( red powder puff)

Red powder puff (Calliandra haematocephala) Family: Leguminosae Description: This is an evergreen shrub or small tree of 4 to 5 metres, which will grow as wide as it…

Sky blue under a leaden sky

Despite the past week of storms, rain and battering inclement weather this scandent Delphinium sp. has proved resilient. It has sparse growth but from this is thrown a…

Autumn Screenings at Inverleith House: Anne-Marie Copestake and Duncan Marquiss

Inverleith House presents two artist films that consider the natural world and scientific enquiry as part of a new short season of screenings reflecting upon the gallery’s unique…

A time to plant

With deciduous leaves colouring and dormancy on its way, now is the time to consider tree planting. Take due account of the weather. Depending on the size of…

Hipster

Planted at the entrance to the John Hope Gateway is Rosa hirtula. A native to Japan where it is found growing in association with, amongst others, Larix kaempferi,…

A glorious autumn

Colour this autumn has been unrivalled. The warmth from the sun and the dry season have combined to extend the floral season. Take a last walk through the…

Plants from Nepal – a new area at Edinburgh to show them off

There have been Nepalese species growing at RBGE for as long as anyone can remember and at the moment there are 529 accessions of plants which either come…

Boundary best

With the sun shining on the canopy of Acer saccharum we are reminded that the autumn equinox passed and the day length is now shorter than the hours…

Chard

A nutritious and versatile vegetable, also well suited to the decorative border. From a packet of seed and an April sowing the seedlings of Chard ‘Bright Lights’ have…

A bigeneric hybrid

X Amarygia parkeri is a bigeneric hybrid of garden origin. The result of a cross between two South African genera; Amaryllis belladonna x Brunsvigia josephinae. The flower stem…

Autumnal Gentians

Sitting atop the limestone wall at the alpine area where the roots are guaranteed a growing medium with good drainage is Gentiana paradoxa. Enjoying exposure to full sun…

Wartime Rhododendron

  In the Autumn of 1914, George Forrest was travelling in China. His letters written at the time mention the difficulties he was facing in getting permission to…

Filter tip

A fine growing season for the genus Eucryphia – cool and moist. This deciduous species, E. glutinosa is awash with white petalled flowers supporting a spectacular central mass…

Swathes of white

Astilbe japonica has plumes of pure white flowers with a musty scent attracting the pollinators, as the name implies, a native to Japan. The generic name Astilbe, is…

Amorphophallus titanum – Preserving it for posterity

The flowering of our Amorphophallus titanum (titan arum) was a tremendous event with c 19,000 people visiting the Glasshouses to see the plant growing from a small bud…

Tubular bells

Desfontainia spinosa a native to Chile, Ecuador, Peru. The parent plant of this specimen was growing in the Alerce Andino National Park, Chile at a relatively low altitude…

The great escape

The spectacular flowers of Romneya coulteri are to be seen in the Queen Mother Memorial Garden on the north boundary border. The large white pleated petals surround the…