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In December 1945 the world was entering its fourth month of‘peace’ after six brutal years of global war. A small sign of that ‘peace’ was the arrival in…
As 2018 nears its end, here are a couple of blogposts telling the stories behind two fern books from the shelves of the Royal Botanic Garden Library. Both…
November 2018 was a rather ‘grey’ month, living up to that month’s reputation. There were only around half a dozen really sunny days, mainly in the first half,…
Agenus of herbs, these two differ in that Helleborusorientalis has no winter foliage and H.foetidus has. H. foetidus isnative to W and S Europe with H.orientalis having a…
The official establishment of the Herbarium at Trinity College Dublin is taken as 1840, with the appointment of Thomas Coulter (1793–1843) as the first Keeper and the incorporation…
Seeing these two images of Ophiopogon planiscapus ‘Nigrescens’ side by side illustrates the change weather can play on plants. Walking around the garden on a wet morning the…
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…
When the museum and library of the East India Company, following its inheritance by the India Office of the British government, was dispersed in 1879 its fragments were…
Since September I have been working, on and off, on the fantastic collection of Indian botanical drawings at our sister organisation, Kew. This started out when asked to…
By Hannah Swan In this second part of the series on interesting insertions in RBGE volumes, I will delve into the various insertions in an 1874 copy of…
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…
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…
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…
October 2018 was changeable. The month started off mild, with pleasantly warm days (highest daytime maximum 19.1°C on 10th) but near the end of the month there was…
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…
This Garden Wildlife Report for September 2018 is exceptionally late, for which I apologise; I have been on holiday or otherwise occupied for much of October. Since originally…
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…
On our 2017 expedition to far west Nepal we spent much of our time following a pilgrimage trail. This trail beginning in Martadi and ending at…
The plethora of international connections within RBGE has its botanical and personal perks. In the summer, before starting my second year of the Plantsmanship HND, I spent 5…
Recently I was looking at the catalogue of the memorable exhibition of Raeburn portraits held in the Royal Scottish Academy in 1997. In it is reproduced a radiant…