Category: HorticulturePage 54 of 59

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

Stinking woody Solanaceae

Cestrum parqui, a woody member of the family Solanaceae, is making healthy growth in the Garden. It is native to South America, from Brazil to Argentina. This specimen…

Feathered edges

The Rock Garden provides many groups of interesting plants to appreciate. In full bloom just now is Dianthus spiculifolius, a tight mound of cushion forming pointed leaves with…

Eyelashes to die for

Look into the carmine pink petals of Geranium psilostemon: the black lines spaced evenly and radiating out from the base to the tip of the petal resemble a…

A giant lily with stature and scent

Cardiocrinum giganteum is one of the prizes of the Himalayan flora. Collections in the Garden have come from the provinces of Yunnan and Sichuan in south-west China. In…

Native Yellow Flag Iris

Planted in groups through the garden and a common sight in less well drained locations around the country is one of our native Iris, Iris pseudacorus. Collections have…

An unaccessed hidden gem

A botanic garden holds a unique collection of plants. These are given individual accession numbers of eight digits: the first four refer to the year of introduction the…

The lantern tree: lighting the way towards midsummer

A young plant in the south area of the Rock Garden is the Chilean lantern tree, Crinodendron hookerianum, so called by the shape and orientation of the flowers….

A Monocarpic Campanula

Campanula thyrsoides is a monocarpic species that is well worth cultivating for the flower dome that is clothed in individual creamy white flowers. From a distance the spike…

Strawberry fields forever

A visit to the Demonstration Garden will reveal a mass of strawberry flowers. Fragaria ‘Pink Panda’ is a carpet of pink bloom. This vigorous herbaceous member of Rosaceae…

Compost tea

Much loved by bees, Symphytum officinale spreads throughout Europe and S.W. Asia. Preferring moist soil in shaded conditions, the plants will colonise as a rampant long lived herbaceous…

Caught on the breeze like a prayer flag

Meconopsis punicea is guaranteed to attract interest with its tissue-thin petals of bright red showing each and every crease as they grow. The head is supported on a…

Star quality

This month sees Corokia cotoneaster covered in small yellow star shaped flowers. In bud, they are cardboard brown, expanding to allow the five linear petals to spread flat…

One of many reasons to visit Logan Botanic Garden

With a long weekend approaching, take a tent or book yourself some accommodation on the Mull of Galloway. Logan Botanic Garden grows a wealth of more unusual plants….

Two hybrid lilacs that differ in stature

These deciduous shrubs come into their own during May, covered in evocatively scented terminal panicles. Both of these hybrids have purple flowers and are shades similar, in fact…

A celebration of the genus Rhododendron

The International Rhododendron Conference is taking place from 7 – 11 May 2008 at the Garden. The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh grows and has long been involved with…

Climbing skyward this May weekend

Holboellia latifolia is a fellow member of the family Lardizabalaceae along with the previously described Akebia trifoliata. The plant driving itself upwards into the light on the Chinese…

Floral structure to delight students of botany

Akebia trifoliata a deciduous woody climber native to China and Japan. Found growing in full sun in moist heavy loam in a valley bottom of the Kamagone River…

An early flowering perennial

Underestimated and undervalued, Doronicum ‘Miss Mason’, this early flowering, early leafing perennial is worth a place in all gardens. Reliable is its middle name, not a year will…

A worthy champion

On the Pyrus lawn to the south west corner of the garden is Pyrus korshinskyi. Registered in the Tree Register of the British Isles as a champion tree,…

Clematis armandii

Clematis armandii is an evergreen climber is found growing at altitudes from 100 – 2400 metres in forests and along forest margins in its native China. Gripping, for…