Category: HorticulturePage 2 of 53
Latest blog stories connected with horticulture at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh
The Himalayan region is recognised as one of the ‘hottest’ global Biodiversity hotspots, with a third of all plant species within its range occurring in Nepal. This makes…
If there was ever a plant to deter all comers this is it. The leaves of Berberis darwinii are clothed in lethal spines. Anyone who has cultivated around…
Fuschia excorticata or Kotukutuku in Māori is a large growing shrub from New Zealand. The specimen is located at the top of the stairs near the monkey puzzles….
The Scottish Rhododendron Festival runs from the start of April until the end of May and aims to promote the varied collection of Rhododendrons collected and grown throughout…
Observe the thinnest, weak looking stem of this Cleavers seedling Galium aparine. Yet it will have the power to draw water and nutrients from the roots pushing these essential…
With the Garden full of spring colour it is good to remember the lesser things that draw the plantings together within the garden. Running through the soil atop…
Bergenia x schmidtii a hybrid between B. ciliata (Kashmir, Nepal) and its more northerly cousin B. crassifolia from Siberia and Mongolia. A good plant as ground cover on…
The closed, rounded petals of Pieris japonica ‘Snowdrift’ are strewn beneath the plant growing in the F beds. Freshly mulched the contrast between the organic layer and these…
The plants of Rhododendron lanigerum originally collected by Kingdon Ward during his travels in south western China are starting to flower. Just as attractive when in tight bud…
The way that one plant or a group of plants can completely consume a person into a collecting compulsion has always intrigued me but also bewilders me. Few…
Distinctive shapes characterise Narcissus cyclamineus,and N. bulbocodium; one elongated trumpet with the perianth reflexed back, elongating the flower and the other a bulbous petticoat. Both ideally suited to…
An evergreen shrub with glossy berries native to Chile and Argentina where it was found colonising dry, rocky areas. The plant growing in the peat walls has reached…
A white frost settling enhances some plants, frozen ice crystals covering Cotula cf. lineariloba set off the silvery rosettes and are further intensified with low sun catching the…
There is an untidy mass of evergreen growth on the northern raised border within the Queen Mother Memorial Garden. Jasminum humile produces copious amounts of black fruit. Pigeons…
A covering of seed has appeared on the freshly spread mulch covering the herbaceous border. Cortaderia selloana ‘Pumila’ is shedding seed from the silver plumes it holds through…
A self-sown clump of Iris foetidissima is bursting with clusters of orange berries in the lower area of the Chinese hillside. These capsules are retained through the winter….
During winter many of our herbaceous plants take refuge underground and deciduous trees shed their leaves. This allows the spotlight for rich evergreens and other plants in the…
The deciduous stalks of Decaisnea insignis are prominent in the upper woodland garden. Hanging from these bare stalks are the fruit; blue sausage shaped receptacles that contain a…
Jasminum nudiflorum; bright yellow flowers on chlorophyll green stems. This one, a stem layer that caught itself under the fence post and rooted into the mortar joint. The…
Following on from a Met Office decreed White Christmas in 2017, Edinburgh had a day of snow and then Storm Dylan blew through on the 31st. Fortuitously, the…