Category: HorticulturePage 20 of 59

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

Double vision in bright fresh yellow

Anemone ranunculoides a spring flowering native that carpets open woodland. The long spindly stems arise from delicate rhizomes that colonise moist organic soil. Atop these spindly stems are…

Magnifying mirror

Look inside the open flower of Fritillaria imperialis ‘Aurora’ at the base of each of the six petals is a perfect white circle that magnifies the nectar pool….

Looking for inspiration

There was a double take when looking up from the new growth of Polygonatum x hybridum shooting up with closed stems to the hooded parasols on the terrace….

Primula denticulata – the Kirrie Dumpling

This Primula has been in cultivation since 1836 when it was first introduced into cultivation by Dr. John Forbes Royle from the NW Himalaya. It is a common…

Beauty and the beast

Two Daffodils, two completely different flower forms. Narcissus ‘Golden Cycle’ a clump filling a crevice in the rock garden with the early morning sun making the golden colour…

Saxifraga x bhratangensis

Saxifraga x bhratangensis is a naturally occuring hybrid that is found in central Nepal. Despite only being described in 2013 it has been in cultivation here at Royal…

A most distinctive colour

Warmth in the air and a lack of frost will give a good flowering season amongst the Rhododendron collection. One worth searching the copse for is Rhododendron davidii….

Alpine extravaganza

Primula allionii seen in pots in the traditional alpine house and colonising the tufa wall in the modern structure too. Also worth a mention is Saxifraga dinnikii alba….

Keep your eye on the alpine display

Amongst the array of fine spring flowering bulbs in the alpine house is a pot of Erythronium grandiflorum ssp. grandiflorum. A native of western North America found growing…

Gesneriaceae Research in Indonesia – Celebrating our science and horticulture throughout March for International Women’ s Day

In order ‘to explore, conserve and explain the world of plants’ we need to build up our collections, both of living plants and herbarium specimens, especially from under-collected…

Birds need bits

Think remnants as you get out into the garden to tidy up now the days are longer. Birds are looking about for pieces of vegetation to use as…

British Art Show 8: Pablo Bronstein

Here at Inverleith House we are very much enjoying Pablo Bronstein’s botanically-inspired artwork, The Birth of the Skyscraper from Botanical Architecture, 2015 (detail), and Early Industrial Landscape, 2016…

Showy gem on the alpine wall

Arabis purpurea is a mat forming evergreen of loose habit. Interestingly the seed was collected from a plant growing on a dark shady dry bank in Cyprus. Here,…

British Art Show 8: Jesse Wine in the Victorian Palm House

Our current exhibition, British Art Show 8, is well underway here at Inverleith House, as well as at partner venues, Talbot Rice, University of Edinburgh, and Scottish National…

First sprouts of spring

Plants are sending out growth as we approach spring. This is the last opportunity to complete any formative pruning. Take the opportunity to manage your plant collection and…

A variable species

Two different collections of Helleborus orientalis can be seen in the woodland garden. Both collected from Georgia. The smaller, with petals shaded pink and red was growing at…

Hugh Cleghorn & Economic Botany

Two new books are shortly to be published by RBGE about one of the Garden’s most significant, but forgotten, benefactors – Hugh Cleghorn of Stravithie (1820–1895). Some of…

Ivy

Carpets of Ivy, Hedera helix, are wonderful for ground cover but once the vigorous shoots start encroaching on tree trunks, walls and through the base of woody shrubs…

Daphne hybrid

Daphne ‘Spring Beauty’ is indeed a beauty and scented too. An evergreen shrub hybridised in the 1820’s it has a mass of flowers in a terminal cluster. Purple…

Figs in waiting

Ficus carica needs a warm corner to produce a reliable crop of Figs in autumn. As a native to the Middle East as much for winter protection of…