Tag: JunePage 1 of 4

A road block

Well established and generally slug resistant this brute of a Hosta is the ideal plant to act as a division or barrier within the garden. Hosta sieboldiana grows…

Three white flowers to cheer us into midsummer week

A member of the Iris family, Iridaceae, Diplarrena latifolia has individual flowers of interesting shape composed of six tepals. The three largest pure white, the smaller tepals have…

Yellow pea flowers

Vigorous, young plants of Piptanthus nepalensis are flowering in the border near the wash house in the Garden. The bright, fresh yellow of the flowers are welcome as…

Statuesque finale to the bowl of stewed Rhubarb

When the clump of Rhubarb in your garden sends up a flower spike this is the time to stop pulling the stalks for stewing down. The elongated leaf…

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…

Following Storm Hector

A casualty of Storm Hector was the loss of our mature Medlar, Mespilus germanica. The large canopy was like a sail gusting in the full force of the…

Straggly with style

Two herbaceous perennials that originate in North America are in flower at the garden. The Aquilegia was collected as seed in British Columbia growing in full sun on…

A very fine tree

Pterostyrax hispida is a choice tree native to shaded edges of forests in China and Japan. Growing at RBGE in the F beds it is now in full…

Fragrant flowers

Intense and heavily sweet, the fragrance from the coral white flowers hanging hidden within the climbing canopy of Schisandra grandiflora is overpowering. In bud the dangling spheres are…

To rival the Lilac in scent and colour

A perennial herb grown for its flavoursome foliage; Chives, Allium schoenoprasum, is also a reliable flowering plant. When cutting for the kitchen, slice as far down the leaf…

Pure white petals

This group of Prostranthera cuneate took a battering from our wet and cold conditions during the winter of 2015/16. Much defoliation took place, yet this southern hemisphere native…

A woodland treasure

Maianthemum likiangense, a valuable and choice addition to the woodland garden flora. Collected in Yunnan Province where it was growing amongst Quercus scrub at 3700m. A tall member…

A floriferous stand of Primula

The unseasonably dry spring has not subdued the display from the candelabra and farinose Primula species. Primula sikkimensis is a strong growing perennial with a rigid straight stem…

Subshrub

Parahebe perfoliata is flowering profusely; it must be our climate, this mild winter, benign spring weather and the plant also has the benefit of a southerly aspect situated…

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…

Raspberry ripple

Weigela decora collected in Japan from an area of dense mixed forest containing Cryptomeria japonica and Stachyurus praecox, these were huge parent plants spreading and reaching 4m x…

Unintended consequences

You study diligently, you consult books, you visit other gardens for ideas on colour and combination then a rampaging Ranunculus invades your border and the most appealing floral…

A Rose by any other name

The Genus is just the start. As plants are collected in the field they arrive back at the Botanics with collectors notes; some detailed, some not so. These…

Perfect for a sun drenched corner

The sun filled days we have been experiencing have brought out the flowers on Helianthemum nummularium ssp. tomentosum to perfection. This subspecies is native to Italy, collected on…

Oversized hedgehog

Erinaceae anthyllis grows in mountainous regions of Europe and North Africa. A hugging evergreen with sharp spines to protect from grazing animals. The blue tinged purple flowers cover…