Category: Other NewsPage 40 of 51

Stories not categories under anything else

Biodiversity implications of potentially cryptic species: Using the simple thalloid liverwort Aneura as a model

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…

Wool Carder Bee returns to Edinburgh Garden

  Yesterday morning I saw a male Wool Carder Bee, Anthidium manicatum, defending the Stachys alpina edging around the Fruit Garden against bumblebees. I first recorded the Wool…

Nuthatch reaches Edinburgh Garden at last!

This morning while walking through the top part of the Chinese Hillside on the way to my office I heard an unusual ‘chup-chup’ call that I had not…

Tree Bumblebee – coming to a garden near you, and maybe a Garden near you

Tree Bumblebee, Bombus hypnorum, first arrived in Britain from the Continent in 2001. From its initial base in south-east England it has spread northwards rapidly, and the first…

May 2014 Garden Wildlife Report

May 2014 was rather warm but also rather dull for much of the time, at least weather-wise. However it was anything but dull in terms of the wildlife…

April 2014 Garden Wildlife Report

First of all I need to apologise for the lateness of this report! The May monthly report will follow in the next few days. Birds  — Thirty-seven species…

Mystery stone

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…

Little Free Library at the Botanics

If you have been to the Garden recently you may have spotted our Little Free Library, situated between our Glasshouses and main Science buildings. The concept of a…

Sea Flora Exhibition Talk

Join the artist of the Sea Flora exhibition, Sara Dodd and RBGE Plant Specimen Preparer, Kate Eden, for a conversation exploring the rich history of seaweed collecting in…

The first Cuckoo ….

Last Sunday, 11 May, about half an hour before the Garden opened, three of the horticulturists (Clare Morter, Neil Davidson and Peter Wilson) all heard a Cuckoo calling…

World War 1 Poppy Field

The summer of 1914 was the beginning of World War 1. In summertime this year, it will mark 100 years since it began. In memory of those who…

Cutting the turf for the Botanic Cottage

On Monday the 28th of April 2014 a momentous moment took place in the long project to rebuild the Botanic Cottage – we finally broke ground! To mark…

Chilean Boquila Vine at the RBGE – Does our plant mimic the other plants around it?

I was reading an online articles in National Geographic  and Science about a Chilean Vine Boquila that can change it’s leaf shape and colour to mimic other plants around it and…

More on the importance of bryophytes

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…

Sylva: An exhibition celebrating our relationship with trees and forests

Opening on Thursday 17 April, Sylva, the new exhibition at the John Hope Gateway, marks the 350th anniversary of the publication of one of the earliest practical manuals on silviculture,…

Why bryophytes matter

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…

Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh to mark Centenary of First World War with Poppy Field

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…

Hedge your bets: Holly 2 of 5, Hedge your bets: Holly, Ilex aquifolium

When does a hedge become a windbreak? The attached image illustrates Ilex growing in the Garden. As a windbreak the plants are left to grow, gaining not just…

A masterful monument

In just a few weeks work will have begun on the rebuilding of the Botanic Cottage, the only surviving building of the long lost 18th century incarnation of…

Fixed dunes – soil from sand

Sand dunes develop over time and go through a range of stages from mobile shifting sands near the sea, to fixed dunes further inland. Over time, organic matter…