Category: Point of InterestPage 9 of 16
Places of interest around the Gardens
Plant Collector George Forrest (1873-1932) introduced over 300 new rhododendron species to Britain but one in particular dwarfed all of these, Rhododendron protistum, which is represented in our…
It was difficult to spot there even was a figure in a Victorian photo of the RBGE Rock Garden which was transferred to the Archives last week, and…
Let me tell you about a hero of mine, and the focus of one of the most requested collections stored in the Archives of the Royal Botanic Garden…
The complex thalloid liverworts, or Marchantiopsida, are one of the oldest land plant lineages, and contain a bewildering array of morphologies, ranging from comparatively simple plants like Blasia,…
The appearance of Hygrophorus hypothejus– commonly known as The Herald of Winter- traditionally signals the beginning of winter and the end of the mushroom season. Hygrophorus mushrooms- commonly…
Leratiomyces ceres is a common and easily recognised fungus which can be found throughout the Botanics from summer to late autumn. It grows mainly on woodchip mulches but…
Leucoagaricus croceovelutinus, also known as the Blushing Dapperling, is rare saprobic fungus found on decaying leaf litter, often with conifers . This particular collection was made under mature…
Over the last few weeks, great progress has been made by the construction team rebuilding the Botanic Cottage. The foundations are now in place, and the outline of…
Weeding through the border carefully, and before a size 10 tackety boot crushed it, eagle eyed, we spotted a seedling of the Monkey Puzzle tree, Araucaria araucana. An…
In memory of Private David Hume, who was killed in action 100 years ago today, on the 26th August 1914, a few weeks short of his 26th birthday….
A rare (or rarely recorded) fungus has been found on at least two of the Quercus species on the oak lawn at RBGE: Dichomitus campestris is a small…
We are hosting a small two-day workshop at the Royal Botanic Garden, Edinburgh on the 11th-12th September 2014 to discuss issues around morphologically cryptic species, whether we can…
Have you ever wondered what the stone situated to the west of the beech hedge at RBGE is? Have you even noticed it’s there? The lump of red…
As a follow-on to my post about why bryophytes are important is this thoughtful piece by Dr Janice Glime, author of the comprehensive and freely downloadable book Bryophyte…
As someone who has used taxpayers’ money to fund research on bryophytes (the collective term for mosses, liverworts and hornworts), ‘But why do bryophytes actually matter?’ is one…
Tsuga heterophylla, the Western Hemlock, neat and dense, withstands close clipping and retains its shape. A tree of forest proportions in its native Western North America. A Pacific…
The Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) will mark the centenary of the start of the First World War by creating a poppy field at the centre of its…
If you have been watching the Masters 2014 Golf from Augusta, Georgia, USA you may have spotted the Rhododendrons (Azaleas) in flower particularly at the 12 and 13…
Hedges are integral to the design and ecology of the garden. Forget the quick fix provided by larchlap panels, take time to make a choice of the many…