Tag: Royal Botanic Garden EdinburghPage 8 of 20

Seedling surprise

Looking for a cheap source of plants to bulk up your hedge or boundary shelter? Stay observant as you weed through the borders. There are often numerous seedlings…

A propensity to propagate

Cover, undergrowth, shrubbery; all terms for a mass of woody growth that provides shelter to biodiversity. Flowers, foliage and fruit through the seasons add to the interest of…

Overnight Freeze

The overnight freeze left a myriad of ice crystals covering the garden this morning. The coldest day yet this year at -3.1 °C. These during and after images of…

Review of the year 2017

January 1st 2017 arrived with a light overnight frost and bright sunshine. The mild weather continued and with it the fragrance from the open flowers of Sarcococca, Hamamelis and Viburnum…

Bright berries

A light, open growing deciduous shrubby Honeysuckle, Lonicera deflexicalyx bears its fruit in pairs at the leaf axles or nodes, along the stem. These small berries are a…

Two late Nerines

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…

Bleached

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 second flush

The mild weather has thrown up spikes of late season flowers. This herbaceous Delphinium beesianum has flowers sitting aside the dry brown seed pods of the summer flush….

Grey and silver in low light

The bright sunny days we have had are ideal for highlighting the soft shades of grey and silver in the garden. The foliage of Geranium traversii var. elegans,…

A treelet

One can only surmise that the description of Neoshirakia japonica in the Flora of China as “a treelet to 8 metres tall” refers to its diminished stature as…

May to October

The Pumpkin patch in the demonstration garden has come to fruition. The large flat seeds were sown into containers in May. Through the season the trailing growth produced…

Not a sea nymph

The Nerine bowdenii and Nerine sarniensis are lasting well. An unusual cultivar N. ‘Quest ‘(a named hybrid of sarniensis) is growing in a clay pot in the glasshouses…

A plant with potential

A young plant of Nyssa sylvatica planted on the pond lawn is colouring well. A native to Eastern North America where it adds considerably to the swathes of…

In the pink

Two plants fusing the shade of pink are the stunning, long lasting flowers of Nerine bowdenii and the fruit of Holboellia grandiflora. The Nerine, a South African bulb;…

Ash

A homage to the best of all autumn colours can be seen in the Nursery. Fraxinus angustifolia ssp. angustifolia when seen with the late afternoon sun lighting up…

First frost and autumn colour

Early sunshine and heavy dew this morning, yet on the front lawns the dew had crystallised as the first ground frost of autumn. With it are signs of…

Out of season flowering in Rhododendron

There are several Rhododendron species and cultivars flowering out of season this autumn. At this time of year the buds should be initiating for the spring 2018 flowering….

A good crop of berries

A compact herbaceous woodland native, Paris quadrifolia, has fruited well this season. The flower stalks appear above the deeply veined leaves. There are still remnants of the green…

Panicles the size of dinner plates

Sambucus racemosa ssp. racemosa has a wide distribution; Europe, Asia Minor, Siberia, W. Asia, N. America. This red berried Elder is bearing magnificent panicles of white flowers, many…

Welcome to Scotland

The Bell heather Erica cinerea is one of the iconic plants of the Scottish hills. Flowering in time for the Edinburgh Festival season a planting near the east…