Clumping over a mound in the rock garden is a sturdy plant, Arctostaphylos pumila, an evergreen shrub of the Ericaceous family. It is endemic to a small area…
Last week saw driving snow storms, freezing temperatures overnight and bright sun leading to a rapid thaw early on in the day. Some plants thrived; it was the…
Hellebore seed gifted from a contact in Belgium was sown six years ago in the nursery. The resultant seedlings were grown on and flowered for the first time…
This plant is worth a closer look as the buds expand and the embryo foliage emerges from tight buds. Specimens of Viburnum furcatum are planted near the upper…
Flowering in the alpine house at the Garden is a collection of Primula allionii. One specimen collected, as seed; from limestone cliffs in the French Maritime Alps is…
Plants grown from seed collected on expeditions often take several years to germinate, grow and mature into flowering sized specimens. Initially they are grown in the nursery and…
Forming a dense barrier of glossy evergreen leaves Trachelospermum jasminoides ‘Variegatum’ is worth growing in a sheltered situation. The foliage of this cultivar has white banding and shows tinges…
The Grey Squirrel population cause occasional damage through the Garden. Bark is stripped from young shoots and bulbs are dug up and eaten. Shoots are cleanly cut with…
Rhododendron dauricum is one of the hardiest of the genus, flowering as January starts and often lasting well into February. Found growing through forest margins where it grows…
So called, as a bunch of the stems of Ruscus aculeatus were tied together and used by butchers to sweep their wooden chopping blocks. The cladodes have a…
Hakonechloa macra is a perennial, clump forming, grass. It is named after Mt.Hakone, on the island of Honshu, Japan and is a monotypic genus. The foliage browns and…
Examples of sculpted work as part of the Roots to Shoots exhibition at the Garden until 10th March 2013 can be found on the Oak lawn. Reflective plates…
A very mild end to 2011, we recorded 12.5oC on the 31st December. On the 3rd January 2012 Edinburgh recorded wind speeds of over 100mph. The highest wind…
Walking through the Rhododendron collection in the Garden as dusk is falling, a rapid temperature drop and the stillness of the evening. Then a sound that resembles water…
Within the research collection is a young potted specimen of Rhododendron zoelleri, one of the Vireya collection. The large funnel shaped corolla is a bright mix of yellow…
Serratula seoanei bearing terminal light pink coloured composite flowers. The regular segmented flower bud structure is worth peering at before it expands revealing the anthers packed within. These…
Ribes vilmorinii planted on the Chinese hillside has the remains of startlingly bright leaf colour. This is a deciduous species native to NW Yunnan into Sichuan and Hubei…