Category: Temperate Palm House

Temperate Palm House

The temperate palm house was built in 1858 by Robert Matheson with a grant of £6,000 from Parliament. At 21.95m (72ft) tall this is the tallest glasshouse in the UK, and is one of the tallest classic palm houses in the world.

Stories from the Biomes: My Experience with the Biomes Decant, by Horticulturist Szymon Drozdek

It all started with one houseplant. That one plant, a Crassula ovata (money plant), led me to having one of the healthiest obsessions human beings can possibly have;…

Stories from the Biomes: A Year in Photos

A lot can happen in a year, especially where the Biomes Project is concerned. Looking back at 2022, it is impossible to include everything that has been achieved, but here is a selection of highlights of the work undertaken by the Horticulture team and colleagues.

Stories from the Biomes: A Change in the Weather

Every day for the last thirty years, rain or shine, Senior Horticulturist Bruce Robertson has climbed up on to the roof of the Temperate Palm House to change the Campbell-Stokes recorder’s sunshine card. As the restoration on the Victorian Palm Houses begins, the recorder’s solid crystal ball is stored away for safe keeping.

Stories from the Biomes: Palm House Propagation

During summer 2021 the first phase of the Biomes Project began and the Glasshouse staff were tasked with the mammoth undertaking of removing all plants from the Palm…

Growing Panes

As many will have observed, there have been some major refurbishment works ongoing at the RBGE’s iconic Temperate Palmhouse over the past few months. These works are to…

Sense and Perception in Plant Scenery of the World

The eye exists in a primitive state. The marvels of the earth a hundred feet high, the marvels of the sea a hundred feet deep, have for their…

Ravenea glauca

Threatened plants of the world Red List status: VULNERABLE You may have already encountered this rare palm on your last holiday to a warm and sunny destination. You…

Reinwardtia indica

30. Reinwardtia indica Dumortier LINACEAE Hindi: basanti, बसंती A member of the flax family which is unusual in having individuals with three different flower forms (a condition known as…

Duchesnea indica

31. Duchesnea indica (Andrews) Focke ROSACEAE In its creeping habit and red fruit, this plant resembles a small strawberry, but its flowers are bright yellow and the fruits are…

Polygonatum oppositifolium

32. Polygonatum oppositifolium (Wallich) Royle CONVALLARIACEAE This subtropical relative of the native European Solomon’s seal was discovered by Nathaniel Wallich on his expedition to Nepal in 1820 to 1821….

Rhododendron dalhousiae

33. Rhododendron dalhousiae J.D. Hooker ERICACEAE Lady Dalhousie’s rhododendron Native of the Eastern Himalaya, this species, which has fragrant flowers, often grows as an epiphyte on mossy tree trunks….

Codariocalyx motorius

34. Codariocalyx motorius (Houttyn) Ohahsi LEGUMINOSAE John Hope’s ‘moving plant of Bengal’ Around 1775 the Scottish surgeon James Kerr sent a drawing of this plant by a Bengali artist…

Hedychium gardnerianum

35. Hedychium gardnerianum Ker Gawler ZINGIBERACEAE Mr Gardner’s garland flower According to Nathaniel Wallich this plant was ‘the queen of the genus if not of the whole [ginger] order’….

Wallichia disticha

36. Wallichia disticha T. Anderson PALMAE This is a very unusual palm in its leaf arrangement. The leaves are borne ‘distichously’, that is, in a single plane on opposite…

Himalayacalamus falconeri

37. Himalayacalamus falconeri (Munro) P.C. Keng GRAMINEAE A clump-forming bamboo that occurs in cool, broad-leaved forests at altitudes of between 2000 and 2550 metres, from Uttarakhand (Kumaon) eastwards through…

Rushing the Coconuts to Market

    Tony Bonning tells a story about rushing coconuts to market.