Tag: AugustPage 1 of 4

The first fallers – signs of autumn

The Gentians are flowering, the first apples have fallen and beneath the mass of foliage Nasturtium seed pods are to be found. All coinciding with the end of…

Aromatic foliage

Drimys andina is a compact evergreen shrub native to Chile and Argentina. It is currently producing clusters of white petalled flowers at the end of the current season’s…

No sting nettle

A childhood dream; a nettle patch you can fall into and emerge unscathed from. Growing in the south facing glasshouse border is a planting of Boehmeria ticuspis var….

Downward facing flowers; a benefit this wet season

The shepherds crook bend on the flower stalk of Cirsium purpuratum ensure the densely packed mass of flower parts are dry and attractive to bees who have no…

Review of the Year – 2018

Following on from a Met Office decreed White Christmas in 2017, Edinburgh had a day of snow and then Storm Dylan blew through on the 31st. Fortuitously, the…

Mellow yellow

What better way to light up the area beneath a deciduous canopy, in this case, Salix x sepulcralis ‘Chrysocoma’ . Sunlight filtering through the canopy and playing tricks…

Summer Roses

The much loved rose is by nature a flower of soft colours ranging from pale creams and lemons to peaches, pinks and deeper reds and crimson. For centuries…

Folded foliage and weighty limbs

Following the prolonged dry period, the rain that we are experiencing now is a welcome shock to plants. The Paeonia lutea reacted to the additional weight of this…

Two Clematis

In an open aspect to the south of the rock garden two Clematis are flowering. Clematis ternifolia, a vigorous grower with lightly scented white star like flowers bearing…

Botanical campanology

Campanula incurva found growing in the rock garden and producing a mass of large inflated upturned bell shaped white flowers, the texture resembling parchment paper, all from a…

A good crop of berries

A compact herbaceous woodland native, Paris quadrifolia, has fruited well this season. The flower stalks appear above the deeply veined leaves. There are still remnants of the green…

Panicles the size of dinner plates

Sambucus racemosa ssp. racemosa has a wide distribution; Europe, Asia Minor, Siberia, W. Asia, N. America. This red berried Elder is bearing magnificent panicles of white flowers, many…

Welcome to Scotland

The Bell heather Erica cinerea is one of the iconic plants of the Scottish hills. Flowering in time for the Edinburgh Festival season a planting near the east…

A woody legume

A young specimen of Colutea cilicica, native to SW Asia is flowering well in the border behind the new alpine house. An unusual genus to find in cultivation,…

Two interlopers

A consequence of a wet spell and the holiday season has resulted in the lawns not being cut as frequently as usual. Two plants have taken advantage of…

Ten years of seasonal plants of interest – 12 that flower or colour reliably year on year.

A lot of plants have caught my eye during the past decade while compiling a weekly profile on a seasonal plant of interest. Below are the consistently reliable…

Mortar magic

Fuchsia magellanica produces sweet, juicy fruits containing multiple seed. These are often dispersed by birds that are partial to the fruit. From subsequent droppings chance seedlings are occasionally…

Mirror quality gloss

Trochodendron aralioides is an evergreen tree with branches in a layered structure. The leaves are highly glabrous and with the summer sun high in the sky are reflecting…

An ornamental Onion

The good sized stems on this Allium wallichianum make it a worthwhile addition to the late summer border. At this time of year foliage has reached maximum height…

Heads up for Hydrangeas

Producing flower heads of dinner plate size in the copse is a young specimen of Hydrangea sargentiana. Stout stems bear the terminal corymb, flat at first and then…