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Blair Castle

  When we arrived at Blair Castle, we were met by a 15-foot-high steel gate, complete with shiny padlock. It opened on Easter weekend – a week away…

Coming of age for old fibre

A huge mass of Osmunda regalis has been dug out on its eighteenth anniversary, see attached image. A mass of fibrous root is a characteristic of this terrestrial…

Comparative Editions: Ryff’s ‘Kurtzes Handbüchlein und Experiment vieler Artzneyen durch den gantzen Cörper des Menschens…’

By Hannah Swan While browsing our Rare Book Collection, we recently came across a boxed book that was as of yet uncatalogued in our online system, Kurtzes Handbüchlein…

A Mystery of Provenance: Boccone’s ‘Recherches et Observations Naturelles’

By Hannah Swan Paolo Boccone’s Recherches et Observations Naturelles de Monsieur BOCCONE, Gentilhomme Sicilien…, published in the translated French in 1674 in Amsterdam, offers several tantalizing clues of…

A concept to modernise RBGE

During the Plantsmanship course, we were given the task of proposing a concept to improve the accessibility of the RBGE collection. RBGE is diversely accessible to a multitude…

A golden glow to start April

Forsythia giraldiana a wild collected species from China produces a delicate scent from butter yellow flowers on deciduous wood. In other areas of the garden the ground flora…

Alternative Methods for Collecting Plant Material for Future DNA Extraction – Part I

Quality and quantity of DNA recovered from stored plant material is becoming more important as DNA sequencing technologies change from the relatively simple Sanger sequencing, to next generation…

Me & My Bee Lands at the Botanics

Why is so much good children’s theatre in Edinburgh on during August when our children are going back to school? This year the Botanics   is bringing top quality…

Hybrid capture from degraded DNA: test Begonia sample quality

Keen to see the effects of different specimen preservation techniques on DNA quantity and quality, we have assessed extractions of DNA from nine Begonia accessions x seven preservation…

Crarae Gardens: The Campbell Legacy

At its inception by the Campbells over a century ago, Crarae Gardens’ Reginald Farrer was plant hunting across the world in China, Nepal, and Tibet, creating Britain’s best…

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…

Is Plantsmanship the best HND course in Scotland for horticulture?

The Plantsmanship course at RBGE encompasses a magnitude of topics. Accompanied with SRUC and University of Edinburgh this course offers complete immersion into the plant world. Few courses…

Hybrid capture from degraded DNA: Squashing Begonia

In order to look at the effects of herbarium preservation methods on DNA quality, Hannah Wilson and Mark Hughes took a trip down to our research glasshouses, and…

Silent Space at Logan Botanic Garden

Logan Botanic Garden is the first garden in Dumfries & Galloway to join Silent Space – encouraging people to switch off their phones and truly relax. It follows…

Hybrid capture from degraded DNA: choosing Begonia

The megadiverse genus Begonia L. is one of the world’s largest plant genera, comprising over 1,800 species, an estimated 200 of which are endemic to New Guinea. A…

Hybrid capture from degraded DNA: stockpiling Begonia DNA for protocol testing

When working out new protocols, it’s very useful to have a big stash of DNA to test them on. Just now, in a collaborative project with Dr Michelle…

February 2018 Garden Wildlife Report

February 2018 was a very sunny and dry month but slightly colder than average. Rainfall was only 34.8 mm (74% of the long-term average), and most of it…

Growing greener credentials at Logan Botanic Garden

Logan Botanic Garden, one of Dumfries & Galloway’s leading visitor attractions, has underscored its commitment to saving the environment by being one of the first Gardens in Scotland…

What’s the matter with Nardia?

The leafy liverwort genus Nardia has five species that are known to occur in Scotland. Of these five species that occur in Scotland, four are described in Smith’s…

Alpine blue-sow-thistle conservation

Reintroduction of the rare and threatened alpine blue-sow-thistle to the Cairngorms Natioanl Park is described in a short film by Dr Aline Finger.