“Excursions may be truly said to be the life of the botanist. They enable him to study the science practically, by the examination of plants in their living state, and…
John Hutton Balfour Born: 15 September 1808 Place of Birth: Buccleuch Place, Edinburgh Died: 11 February 1884 Place of Death: Inverleith House, Edinburgh Occupation: Botanist and Teacher The…
The memorial poppy and wild flower meadow on the glasshouse lawn at RBGE has inspired many visitors to contemplate the bravery and sacrifice of men and women involved…
George Cruickshanks Fallow was born to Archibald (a grocer and fruit grower) and Margaret (by 1914 a postmistress) in Rosebank near Dalserf, Lanarkshire on the 5th November 1890. …
William G. Dickson joined the staff of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh as a Labourer on the 3rd August 1914, the day before Great Britain declared War on…
Duncan Smith began work at RBGE as a probationer or trainee gardener on the 4th January 1909 at the age of 24, receiving training and work experience in…
In researching this series of centenary blogs in which I research each of our former staff members who enlisted during the First World War and are named on our…
Walter Henry Morland joined the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh (RBGE) on the 5th January 1910 as a rose specialist. He came to RBGE near the age of 30…
5th Cameron Highlanders. Reported missing, presumed killed, on the 25th September 1915 at the Battle of Loos. We were delighted to be sent this photograph recently of Private…
Born on the 31st March 1853, the son of John Hutton Balfour who was Regius Keeper at RBGE between 1845 and 1879, Isaac Bayley Balfour grew up up in very close contact…
The Scots plant collector George Forrest (1873-1932) is now known as a talented photographer, though he didn’t necessarily enjoy the process of using a cumbersome glass plate camera,…
Plant Collector George Forrest (1873-1932) introduced over 300 new rhododendron species to Britain but one in particular dwarfed all of these, Rhododendron protistum, which is represented in our…
I’m getting excited gearing up for our Book Week Scotland events that kick off in less than two weeks. Some visitors may not realise that we have a library…
You may be interested to know that there is a small display in the library foyer, just up the stairs from the garden’s memorial, covering our WW1 Roll…
As a fan of eminent plant collector George Forrest (1873-1932), I’d long known that two of his plant introductions had been named after former RBGE gardeners killed in…