Tag: DecemberPage 1 of 4
2018 ended with temperatures in double figures, not as isolated incidents but repeated daily. Before dusk fell, the bells announcing the ice cream van touting for trade were…
By this time of year all the herbaceous plants have died back and reduced to yellow/brown remnants of their former glory. Take the opportunity to rake any remains…
Winter months are a good time to catch up with hedge cutting. Always start at the base, a clean line with the first pass of the hedge trimmer…
December arrives and leaf fall should be complete. Now is the time to clear the decaying remains from the lawns and corners of the garden. An area often…
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…
Agenus of herbs, these two differ in that Helleborusorientalis has no winter foliage and H.foetidus has. H. foetidus isnative to W and S Europe with H.orientalis having a…
Seeing these two images of Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ side by side illustrates the change weather can play on plants. Walking around the garden on a wet morning the…
Cornus capitata has produced a satisfactory crop of fruit this year. A deciduous wide canopied tree from China. Growing here at RBGE in the shelter of the east…
For a late season blast of vibrant colour a patch of Nerine bowdenii ‘Pink Triumph ‘ is flourishing in a sheltered spot to the SE of the tropical…
It is always a treat to see bright autumn colour, yet occasionally the reverse happens. The colour has drained from the foliage of Viburnum orientale to such an…
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…
January 2016 dawned with a frost, only – 0.4°c, but still a frost. This, following the wettest month for more than a century. December 2015 was also the…
As a base layer, the colour brown dominates at this time of year. Ideal as a foundation layer to the glitz of Christmas. Stephanandra tanakae has fine warmth…
Sitting in an exposed site within the rock garden are plants of Alyssoides utriculata. This short lived woody perennial has seed capsules that resemble bladders. It is found…
Two Euonymus sieboldianus are planted side by side in the Garden arising from two different collecting expeditions. They are deciduous branched shrubs covered in fruit; each plant having…
January 1st dawned wet and mild, the north block metrological station easily touching 14°C. Walking around the Garden on New Year’s morning; Snowdrops – in flower. A first…
We practiced contrasting traditional horticultural practices in the second half of December, one seasonal and the other not so. Following a mild wet autumn we recorded an overnight…
A midsummer flowering favourite that is, as we head for the shortest day, awash with flower buds and carrying a selection of open flowers. The weekend frost had…
The season of herbaceous seed heads is with us. This tall Ligularia fischeri has elegance in the way it displays the seed and empty seed capsules down the…