Tag: plants of the monthPage 2 of 4

A choice species to welcome the Scottish Rhododendron Festival

The Scottish Rhododendron Festival runs from the start of April until the end of May and aims to promote the varied collection of Rhododendrons collected and grown throughout…

Clear out the Cleavers

Observe the thinnest, weak looking stem of this Cleavers seedling Galium aparine. Yet it will have the power to draw water and nutrients from the roots pushing these essential…

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…

Gaultheria poeppigii

An evergreen shrub with glossy berries native to Chile and Argentina where it was found colonising dry, rocky areas. The plant growing in the peat walls has reached…

Blowing in the wind

A covering of seed has appeared on the freshly spread mulch covering the herbaceous border. Cortaderia selloana ‘Pumila’ is shedding seed from the silver plumes it holds through…

Hanging by a thread

Jasminum nudiflorum; bright yellow flowers on chlorophyll green stems. This one, a stem layer that caught itself under the fence post and rooted into the mortar joint. The…

Cornus fruit

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…

An intense blue

Seed collected in Sichuan Province, China during 1992 of Ceratostigma minus is providing colour in this warm, open November month. There is what may be signs of slight…

A fine leaf with shape, texture and colour

The group of Hydrangea quercifolia growing in the biodiversity garden are still showing good autumn colour. Large distinctively shaped leaves make this a worthwhile plant to grow. The…

In senescence there is beauty

Walking along the south of the Front Range glasshouses the sun lit up the decaying clump of Agapanthus praecox ssp. minimus. The long linear foliage has turned a…

The Poppy Patch

With the dry, warm weather this autumn the Annual Poppy, Papaver rhoeas, has produced a timely show of flowers to add colour in the lead up to Armistice…

The scent of Hamamelis

Opposite the Alpine area is a full flowering specimen of Hamamelis virginiana, an autumn blooming species from Eastern North America. Not to be confused with the Chinese species…

A shaft of sunlight

On the lawn west of the pond is a young specimen of Fraxinus apertisquamifera, a native to Japan. A deciduous tree to 5 metres height and a wide…

Cast to mud

This is the season where worm casts appear on the surface of the lawn. If left and walked or worse, mown over, the squashing, flattening action will result…

Seed heads

The seed pods of Clematis terniflora have split open and are releasing their seed. The plumose styles appear as a mass of white feathers covering the tangled growth….

A perennial daisy

The space around one of the alpine troughs is awash with a multitude of small daisy like flowers. From minute green button buds white ray florets quickly turn…

But will there be Chestnuts to roast?

The iconic Sweet Chestnut on the NW corner of the Rock Garden has sustained damage to the canopy over the years. The westerly storm force winds have ripped…

In the bowels of the plant

Astelia chathamica is a vigorous bold clump of sword shaped leaves. A native to New Zealand, more specifically, the Chatham Islands. Our well established plant is fruiting prolifically….

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…

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…