Tag: AprilPage 2 of 4

The Campbell’s are coming

The Magnolia season is well and truly with us, the weather conditions have been perfect for these magnificent deciduous trees to bloom in profusion and for such an…

Campbell’s Magnolia – What a treat!

 This last week we have all been enjoying the Campbell’s Magnolia (Magnolia cambellii ‘Charles Raffill’) that stands next to Inverleith House. It has been spectacular. Our specimen is…

Curling and unfurling

This is the time of year for young growth to exhibit some, not all, of their best characteristics. The young foliage of Anemone x hybrid is pushing through…

Primula marginata

Filling an alpine trough with colour is Primula marginata, a native to the Alps. The rosette of evergreen foliage is toothed around the edges and white farina is…

What to do in your Fruit and Vegetable Garden in Scotland: APRIL

April is a busy time for the volunteers and community groups that work on the Edible Gardening Project at the Botanics. As the weather improves and the soil…

Bedding frost farcast

If the forecast is to be believed we are in for a few cold nights at the end of the week. If you bought your bedding plants over…

Hedge your bets 5 of 5: Maintenance

  Maintenance Maintain a weed free root zone. Water establishing plants in a prolonged dry spell. Only cut when the bird nesting season is over. Forming the shape…

Hedge your bets 4 of 5

Hawthorn, Crataegus monogyna, the stock fence on farmland. Deciduous, spiny, flowering, berrying and impenetrable to livestock. These days, often cut with a tractor mounted flail mower. Craftsmen traditionally…

Hedge your bets 3 of 5: Tsuga heterophylla

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…

Golfing Azaleas

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…

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…

Hedge your bets 1 of 5

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…

Really Wild Vegetables

This summer we’ll be investigating the wild relatives of some of our most familiar vegetables with our ‘Really Wild Vegetable’ trial (as part of the Talking Science Project). All crops have…

Maximising stem space

The mature specimens of Maytenus boaria seen in the garden are laden with flower buds. As these open the four yellow anthers are prominently displayed proud of the…

Better in bud

With leaves unfurling and flower buds poised to burst Viburnum buddlejifolium is an open growing wide spreading semi evergreen shrub native to Central China. In its present stage…

A poor year for old crocks

The extended cold has taken a toll on clay pots. These pots are absorbent and susceptible to freezing and thawing temperatures. Dependant on the kiln temperatures when fired…

Best black from Belgium

Hellebore seed gifted from a contact in Belgium was sown six years ago in the nursery. The resultant seedlings were grown on and flowered for the first time…

All a tangle

This is a Clematis like no other; a leafless tangle of green reed like stems. The scandent growth mounds over itself reaching 1.5metres in height. A native to…

A Georgian gem

Aipyanthus pulchra was growing in association with Daphne, Pulsatilla, Scabiosa in grassland when collected on Mt Kazbegi in Georgia at 2298 metres. Found throughout the Caucasus and western…

What a difference a few days make

Leaving Scotland’s driest and sunniest month of March since 1929 for the east winds that turned the balmy high teen temperatures we had been used to for 10…