Category: HorticulturePage 1 of 60

Latest blog stories connected with horticulture at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh

Cryptomeria japonica grove

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

An enigmatic hybrid paeony: smoutii or smouthii?

Lady Emma Tennant who takes a deep interest in the history of the plants she paints asked me what appeared a simple request: to look into the etymology…

Routes to Roots

Routes to Roots brought artists and collections staff together at RBGE to ask what meaningful collaboration inside botanic institutions looks like, and what artists need in order to work well with living and preserved collections.

Stories from the Biomes: House 3 to House 5 

Throughout the summer preparations have taken place across the relevant Glasshouses for the manoeuvre and removal of the large plants destined for the Palm Houses with hard relandscaping, design planning and large-scale repotting to name a few. 

The Biodiversity Potential of Tree Species

This article was written by Eloise Fenton, graduate of the 2024/2025 RBGE Masters programme in Biodiversity and Taxonomy of Plants. Building on the role of urban trees in…

Viral or Cultural? A Mini Experimental Trial on Polygonatum Verticillatum

The NRF (Nature Restoration Fund) Scottish Plant Recovery Project at RBGE aims to restore genetically diverse populations of our endangered Scottish native plants around the country. Whilst rewarding,…

Stories from the Biomes: Return of the Giants

Over the summer of 2024, the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh welcomed the return of one of the plant world’s most spectacular plants: the giant Victoria water lilies, specifically…

Postcard from the Biomes: A Blank Slate

Explore more Botanic Stories covering the Ferns and Fossils Glasshouse decant below. Stories from the Biomes: Fern House decant begins – Botanics Stories Stories from the Biomes: The…

Meet the Botanics Sniffer in Residence

What is the ‘mushroomy’ scent of heritage? And what do the institutions that care for it — such as the RBGE — smell like? By Siôn Parkinson Dr…

Are we ready to weather the water?

On Friday 14 June 2024, RBGE experienced 11mm of rain in the span of 8 minutes. To put into context, a typical rainy day (≥ 1mm precipitation, of…

My RBGE Apprenticeship: Glasshouse Rotation – Patricia Berakova

As part of my apprenticeship at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh, I have been working for a 13-week period with each of the different horticultural teams, learning as…

John Main DHE, NDH [MHort RHS], FCIHort, SHM

Ex Head of Horticulture at the RBGE John started his long horticultural career in 1957 as an apprentice at Bellgarth Nurseries, Carlisle that specialised in growing Chrysanthemums, Gladioli,…

Growing Connections: Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and The National Botanic Gardens of Ireland.

The sharing of plants between botanic gardens has long been an essential tool in the cultivation and display of the world’s rare and threatened flora. The plants generously…

Garden Highlights 2023

It has certainly been another busy and productive year in the garden for everyone working at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE). A garden is never static, it…

Reviving Benmore’s giants

Reviving a stressed 50m tree feels daunting but having 49 ailing giant redwoods to revive has been one of the biggest challenges. Peter baxter, curator, benmore botanic garden…

Postcards from the Biomes: The Last Fern to Leave

A new Postcards from the Biomes following the move of the last fern to leave the Ferns and Fossils Glasshouse at The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

The Queen Mother’s Memorial Garden

The Queen Mother’s Memorial Garden celebrates the garden’s historical connections with the Royal Family, which date back to RBGE’s origins in 1670 as a Physic Garden at the…

Towards 3 million specimens: Prunus spinosa – The Blackthorn Tree of British and Irish Folklore 

The following blog post was written by Courtney Kemnitz, a Digitiser in the RBGE Herbarium. Courtney is digitising the British Isles collection. This series of blog posts will…

Postcards from the Biomes: A Show of Fronds

You can read more about the journey of the tree ferns in the BBC article below. BBC News – Giant plants make epic journey from Edinburgh to Port…

Postcards from the Biomes: Using air layering as a propagation method.

Read Marc Gilbert’s full article on air layer propagation here. Discover more from our other articles and journals here.

Stories from the Biomes: The Fern House Decant

In 2022, the Horticulture team fixed their attention on the Ferns and Fossils Glasshouse, home to an impressive species diversity from an ancient group of plants. Read about the successes and challenges of moving this collection, from one of the team who carried out the work.