Tag: MarchPage 1 of 4

Emerging buds and size 10’s

The soil is warming and herbaceous plantings are moving. The buds are thrusting up through the soil, established clumps of Hosta are hedgehog like with the multitude of…

Plant an evergreen

Mid-March and the worst of the winter weather should be behind us. Now is an ideal time to plant an evergreen as the desiccating cold winds that are…

Snowdrop division

Have you been impressed with the carpets of Snowdrops seen in gardens open for the Scottish Snowdrop Festival? As the flowers fade, now is the time to lift…

A woodland carpet

Symphytum grandiflorum is to be found as an extensive patch of vegetation covering soil in the upper woodland garden. Neat and compact with an inflorescence of creamy white…

Fresh growth

With the Garden full of spring colour it is good to remember the lesser things that draw the plantings together within the garden. Running through the soil atop…

A perennial rhizome

Bergenia x schmidtii a hybrid between B. ciliata (Kashmir, Nepal) and its more northerly cousin B. crassifolia from Siberia and Mongolia. A good plant as ground cover on…

Pearls on the mulch

The closed, rounded petals of Pieris japonica ‘Snowdrift’ are strewn beneath the plant growing in the F beds. Freshly mulched the contrast between the organic layer and these…

Look out for lanigerum

The plants of Rhododendron lanigerum originally collected by Kingdon Ward during his travels in south western China are starting to flower. Just as attractive when in tight bud…

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…

Rip roaring rhubarb

Rhubarb seed sown in the spring of 2017 germinated and the resultant seedlings were set out in the south facing market garden area. These rootstocks, dormant through the…

An early scented Clematis

Growing on the south facing wall of the glasshouses in full sun is Clematis henryi. Found growing naturally at forest margins, on shady slopes amongst shrubs and along…

The real deal

The Crocus chrysanthus cultivar ‘Snow Bunting’ emerged unscathed from the Siberian snow that fell in quantity last week. Predominantly white petals with purple and yellow striations at the…

Gutters and gulley’s

March the first was the start of the metrological spring and what weather we are seeing. The last time there was this amount of snow in the garden…

Snowdrop division

March arrives and this year we have had a good six weeks to appreciate the Snowdrop collection. Reliable, regular and then as the deciduous canopy above expands and…

Rhododendron siderophyllum

Look out for Rhododendron siderophyllum planted at the bottom of the Chinese hillside.  A small plant with evergreen leaves that give off an aromatic smell when touched or…

Central Asian Juno Iris

A first flowering at RBGE for Iris zaprjagajewii one of the dwarf Juno Iris. Collected by members of the alpine and rock garden team on an expedition to…

Colour in the Rhododendron collection

A fine specimen is Rhododendron hunnewellianum, planted by the laundry building near Inverleith House.  Best seen from the pathway and lawn nearby as it is a top heavy…

The purple plum

Flowering in many gardens is Prunus cerasifera or one of its many forms. A welcome reminder that spring is arriving. A native to the Caucasus and now found…

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…

Alpine extravaganza

Primula allionii seen in pots in the traditional alpine house and colonising the tufa wall in the modern structure too. Also worth a mention is Saxifraga dinnikii alba….