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Really Wild Veg – 2015 roundup

As 2015 draws to a close we end the third growing season for the Really Wild Veg project. The aim of the project is to explore how domestication…

Herbarium specimens in new National Library exhibition

Two of our herbarium specimens from the 19th Century are in the new exhibition entitled  PLAGUE!  at the National Library of Scotland on George IV Bridge.  They make…

Help Your Child to Wonder

At this time of year parents are frantically trying to decide what to give their children for Christmas. Can I make a suggestion? As first proposed by pioneer…

Cistus albidus

A midsummer flowering favourite that is, as we head for the shortest day, awash with flower buds and carrying a selection of open flowers. The weekend frost had…

A Quest of Flowers – The Ludlow and Sherriff Collection

In early November 2015 we were lucky enough to be asked if we’d take a postgraduate student studying Archives and Records Management at Glasgow University for a two…

Tall sentinels of seed

The season of herbaceous seed heads is with us. This tall Ligularia fischeri has elegance in the way it displays the seed and empty seed capsules down the…

Botanics Sparrowhawks – Tweets

We are at the time of the year where observable sparrowhawk activity reaches its low point. They are most likely to still be around but it’s just that…

November 2015 Garden Wildlife Report

November began as October ended, quiet and mild. However after the first few days there was an abrupt change when a series of Atlantic depressions brought gales and…

The three R’s

A warm autumn and benign lead into winter has produced many out of season horticultural surprises. The Raspberry ‘Autumn Bliss’ was prolific in fruiting  and even now has…

More power from Dawyck Hydro.

The Hydro power scheme at Dawyck Botanic Garden was officially launched on the 19th May 2014 by Fergus Ewing MSP, The Minister for Business, Energy and Tourism. It…

Out of season beauty

In the corner of the QMM garden is a columnar tree full of lightly scented musty white flowers. Awash with flowers this Hoheria populnea is a deciduous member…

Calliandra ( red powder puff)

Red powder puff (Calliandra haematocephala) Family: Leguminosae Description: This is an evergreen shrub or small tree of 4 to 5 metres, which will grow as wide as it…

Getting Ready for Schools in the Botanic Cottage

  As the opening of the Botanic Cottage is fast approaching props and resources are being made and tested for the new school programmes which will open for…

Sky blue under a leaden sky

Despite the past week of storms, rain and battering inclement weather this scandent Delphinium sp. has proved resilient. It has sparse growth but from this is thrown a…

Are half the specimens in the herbarium at Edinburgh wrongly named?

Zoë Goodwin, who first arrived at RBGE as an MSc student, became a member of staff, and is now a PhD student (University of Oxford), has just published…

Have I Got News for Yew

The idea that a story about a male yew tree producing a female branch would go viral and attract massive media attention would have seemed highly unlikely a…

How can botanic gardens grow their social role?

One of the biggest changes to take place in botanic gardens in the 21st century has been the adoption of an expanded social role. Botanic gardens remain about…

Lost before found: Was there more than one species in Monocarpus?

The complex thalloid liverwort Monocarpus sphaerocarpus has been found on two continents, Australia and Africa, separated by around 8,000 km of mostly ocean. The green plants themselves are…

Gardener’s Kitchen – Pumpkins

Pumpkins (Cucurbita pepo) can be grown in Scotland if you have a reasonably sheltered garden and the summer is not a complete washout! My favourite recipe, which is…