Category: HorticulturePage 38 of 59

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

Autumn colour

The deciduous foliage of Tripterygium regelii is yellowing gracefully. This ungainly climber reaches 5 metres in Japan from where seed was collected. In Amori Prefecture it was growing…

Red leaf stalks

The family Euphorbiaceae is more usually associated with the warmth of home at Christmas time when Poinsettias are the house plant of choice. Mallotus japonicus is also a…

A neglected genus

Eleutherococcus leucorrhizus is a sparsely spined, deciduous shrub that is growing from a turn of the 20th Century Wilson collection. Native to SW China where it grows in…

October 2012: The Smell of Candyfloss

The autumn colours are developing in the Edinburgh Garden with an increasing presence. One of the regular performers is Cercidiphyllum japonicum, a multi-branched small tree native to China…

Farewell to plot

Today it is the last time I am visiting my plot. It is going to be taken over by a new student next week. Looking back at the…

“The Apprentices Potager”

Designed, planned and planted by the three Horticulture Apprentices the potager is a collection of vegetables and flowers; in effect a flowering vegetable garden with origins in France….

Passion

Passiflora vitifolia a native to Central America. A sturdy and vigorous plant that soon covers a sizeable section of the Orchid and Cycad glasshouse it is growing in….

Brightness to end a poor summer

Despite the wet overcast summer the spikes of bloom on Watsonia pillansii are magnificent. Distinct in the south facing border of the Front Range this native to Eastern…

Large Ligustrum; yet compactum

There is a huge specimen of Ligustrum compactum on the hillside, striving upwards to maximise exposure to the light. It is presently covered in terminal panicles of white…

September 2012: Eye Level Agapanthus

Agapanthus grows and flowers best in soil with a high moisture content yet well drained until flowering has finished. It then requires a dryer root zone throughout late…

Look out for berries

Dichroa febrifuga is of borderline hardiness in Edinburgh. It requires a warm sheltered spot and protection through the worst of the winter to make a modest shrub ultimately…

Plots going wild

It is late August now and most of the plants are going into seed. Our plots look particularly attractive at this moment – wild, messy but also intriguing.

Sparrowhawks at the Botanics: 2012 montage

Selected highlights of the 2012 sparrowhawk breeding season at the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh.

A scent of languid honey

A bulb from Temperate South Africa; now growing in a sheltered situation within the confines of the glasshouse borders. Here Eucomis comosa has clumped up well. The foliage…

Something for the plate

For a month now I have been harvesting vegetables from my plot. As a result onions and lettuce reappear in my meals without a stop. I have collected…

Summer time and summer colours

Summer finally arrived to Edinburgh. With a bit of sun and heat all the plots changed their appearance. Plants shoot up and produced flowers and fruits. The whole…

Drifting disinfectant

A mature clump of Cimicifuga japonica is in full flower on the edge of the conifer walk. The scent wafting down from the long plumes these past mild…

Blood on the blade

Planted in the corner of the herbaceous border is Imperata cylindrica ‘Rubra’. The leaves; blood red in colour from the tip down. Plant where the sun will reflect…

Stamp collector?

Growing in the student plots is carpeting annual awash with flower. Nemophila menziesii ‘Pennie Black’; the true species being native to California where it is found in meadows…

August 2012: Swaying in the wind

The Dierama collection growing at the Garden has this season been spectacular. Delicate and delightful images of arching fishing rods come to mind, a slight breeze causes the…