Category: HorticulturePage 44 of 59

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

The longest day and a plant that appreciates good light levels

The pink daisy like flowers of Delosperma lavisiae appreciates good levels of natural light. Sunlight is essential to persuade the buds to open revealing the ring of narrow…

Time to take stock

Walking through the garden you will notice plants that did not survive the severe winter weather. It is now time to be ruthless with the dieback that spoils…

Bright and beautiful

An ideal descriptor for Dianthus callizonus growing tucked into the lee of a rock on a south face of the rock garden. Of low growing habit with terminal…

A woody poly to go.

Atraphaxis frutescens is a woody member of the Polygonaceae family. A family more readily recognised for giant herbaceous invaders. A native to Central Asia through into Eastern Europe…

Pendulous panicles

Decaisnea insignis is a  multi stemmed deciduous shrub native to Western China. Huge pinnate leaved foliage, comprising a variable number of leaflets (13 – 25) develops, forming a…

A Balkan beauty

Weather and climate have colluded this year to ensure a magnificent flowering season. Mature trees have excelled in their flower production this year and currently Fraxinus ornus var….

Rock solid blooms

Four and a half pages of tight text indicate the importance that WJ Bean placed on this species of tree Paeony, Paeonia suffruticosa, in his book “Trees and Shrubs…

The true Quince

Chaenomeles japonica is often referred to as Quince. This common name should be reserved for Cydonia oblonga. The fruit of both do however make a very fine jelly;…

Spring wedding week

Exochorda x macrantha a garden hybrid between E. korolkowii and E. racemosa introduced c. 1900. At this time of year the leafy growth is covered in racemes of…

Perfect petals

Rhododendron campanulatum ssp. campanulatum is found throughout the Himalayas. Seeds were collected in Nepal from a collection made at c. 3500 metres. This seed has grown into a…

Colour in the copse

The path leading into the copse from the south is the most colourful approach to this area of the garden. The mass of of yellow with a comparable…

Three stunners to herald spring

Pulsatilla turczaninovii is a native to the grassy slopes of E & N Asia into Siberia. It is a herbaceous clump former amassed with flowers. The sepals a…

Truth serum

Scopolia carniolica var. carniolica a member of the Solanaceae family and found throughout Europe. Lush foliagesprouts rapidly from the rhizomes as soil temperature rises and days lengthen in…

Sweet scents from Slovenia

A late flowering, ground hugging evergreen member of the sweet scented genera Daphne; Daphne blagayana  is just now opening its spear shaped buds. Terminal sulphur yellow flower buds…

Sorbus caloneura

Early to leaf out; Sorbus caloneura is at its best as the winter buds burst and the fresh foliage expands. This wide branched small tree has deeply veined…

Rhododendron fever

It is evident spring has arrived and settled in when the Rhododendron collection rewards us with masses of colour. Many of the species are now blooming profusely through…

The Crocus are coming

At last; signs of spring in the Garden. Crocus vernus is in flower in the Alpine house. The “Spring Crocus” is a lilac shade of purple with prominent…

Subalpine Buttercup

Growing in the Middle Atlas mountains of Morocco at subalpine altitude; 2000 – 2500metres, Ranunculus calandrinoides demands a rocky free draining substrate where the roots can grow down…

A lesser known member of Hamamelidaceae

Sycopsis sinensis is an evergreen shrub in the family Hamamelidaceae. A native to central and western China where it grows as understory in evergreen forests on hillsides at…

White stemmed Rubus

These images are of one of the white stemmed brambles that are now more obvious in the border with no snow on the ground to dilute their colour…